Full text of "The history of Whités [with the Betting Book from 1743 to 1878 and a list of members from 1736 to 1892]"

See other formats

Fhe History of White's.

(nv^

/..,.'<»

o-y

/^«..

The History of White's

WITH THE

Betting Book from 1743 to 1878

AND

A List of Members from
1736 to 1892.

This Edition consists of five hundred copies.
Number _ -ii^C^....^:^..

MM'i.^

'^i'i

ft* % .! ,f'

^^^

^ ^^

>-j.

V *' I'

?/^V^^,

^,^*'

«4 / '

WHITE S IN 18 9 2

Fpom a dpawing by A.Ludcviei

The

History of White's.

VOL. I.

PUBLISHED BY THE

HONABLE. ALGERNON BOURKE,
39A, ST. James's street, london.

LONDON :
WATERLOW AND SONS LIMl'IED, I'RINTEKS, LONDON WALL.

1892.

CONTENTS,

PAGE

Preface ......... xi

CHAPTER I.

Introduction of Coffee into England — The Coffee Houses — Their
importance as places of public meeting — Attempt to suppress
them — Life at Coffee Houses — Distinct character of the com-
pany at each of the better known houses — White's Chocolate
House — Disadvantages of promiscuous company at the
fashionable Coffee Houses — Transformation of Coffee Houses
into Clubs ........ i

• CHAPTER 11.

White's Chocolate House — Site of the original White's— Francis
White — Removal of White's to new building — White's death
and will — Widow White — Her prosperity — Fashionable
character of her house — Masquerades and operas — John
Arthur — Fire at White's in 1733 — Temporary removal of
White's to Gaunt's Coffee House— White's and Hogarth-
Robert Arthur ....... o

vi Contents

CHAPTER III.

PAGE

Contemporary references to White's — Allusions to Gambling — Far-
quhar — Gay — Steele — Addison — Pope — CoUey Cibber at
White's — Swift — Mrs. Delany — White's and Heidegger's Mas-
querades — Popular opposition to Masquerades — Satirical
notices — Hogarth . . . . . .21

CHAPTER IV.

The first rules of the "Old Club" — List of members in 1736 — Con-
temporary affairs in England — Quarrels at Court — Division of
Society — Prominent members of White's in 1736 — Walpole —
Pulteney — Dodington — Chesterfield — Marlborough — Bedford
— Newcastle — Pelham, &c. — Cibber — Heidegger — The Duke of
Montagu's practical joke — Robert Arthur — White's a non-
Political Club ••■•-•• 33

CHAPTER V.

Slow increase of White's — Early elections — Stair— Ligonier — Granby
— Anson — Fawkener — Grafton — Burlington, &c— Difficulty of
entry to White's — The Young Club and its origin — First elec-
tions at the Young Club — Cathcart — Conway — Sackville —
Selwyn — March — Selwyn and his correspondents — Carlisle —
Williams — Edgecumbe — Walpole, &c.— The origin of the arms
of White's ....... 60

CHAPTER VI.

Horace Walpole and his connection with White's — His stories of the
Club— Extraordinary wager— The Club Betting Book— Rigby
—A typical night at the Club— Lord Coke's domestic affairs
—The earthquake at White's— A traditional wager— A dinner
at the Club — The Miss Gunnings — An apology at White's
— A blackballing and the reason of it . . . .79

Contents. vii

CHAPTER VII.

PAGE

Gaming at White's — At Court — Amongst the lower classes — Colonel
Lyttelton's address to the King — Contemporary allusions to
White's— "The Polite Gamester "—The " Connoisseur "—The
Club Betting Book — Lord Montfort — His curious wager with
Sir John Bland — Deaths of Lord Montfort and Sir John Bland
by suicide — Great Members of White's — Chatham and his
Government — Clive — Rodney, &c. . . . -94

CHAPTER VIIL

Increase of both clubs — Curious rules of the Old Club— Removal of
both clubs to present premises — The "Great House" and its
tenants — Death of Arthur — Robert Mackreth — The Cherubim —
Mackreth returned as Member for Castle Rising — Allusions to
White's as Arthur's — Gilly Williams and his gossip — Decrease
of Gaming at White's — Macall — Almack's — The origin of
Brookes's— Experiences of Members of White's at Brookes's
— March — Selwyn — Carlisle . . . . .114

CHAPTER IX.

Changes of Proprietorship — The Cherubiin— John Martindale — The
Martindale family — White's under John Martindale — Altera-
tions in Rules — Fusion of the Old and Young Clubs — Mackreth's
later career — Law suit with Mr. Fox- Lane — Mackreth
imprisoned — Sir Robert Mackreth, Knt. — His will — Thomas
Rumbold, boot-boy at White's and Governor of Madras — His
career in India — Made a Baronet — Bill of Pains and Penalties
— Bargain with Rigby . ■ '35

viii Contents.

CHAPTER X.

PACiE

Parliament and the Clubs — White's a political club for the first
time — William Pitt at White's — His rivalry with Fox — The
Prince of Wales — Dissensions at Court — Mrs. Fitzherbert —
The King's illness — Ball at White's to celebrate the King's
recovery — The Prince's action — Ball at Brookes's — Duel
between the Duke of York and Col. Lennox — The Chevalier
St. George — Record of his visit to White's . . . 148

CHAPTER XI.

Alterations in Rules — William Pitt's Committee — Appointment of
Managers— Wines drunk in England in the Eighteenth Century
— Faro forbidden at White's — Faro at Brookes's — Beau
Brummell — Initiates the Beau period at White's — Brummell's
parentage — Meets the Prince — Becomes a leader of fashion —
His rudeness — Decline of Brummell's influence — His flight^
Napoleon and bets at White's — The heroes of the Peninsular
War — Ball to celebrate the peace — Dinner to the Duke of
Wellington — White's and Waterloo .... 167

CHAPTER XII.

Changes in Rules — Tlie origin of the Bow Window — George Raggett
—Other Clubs of Raggett's— Whist at the Roxburgh — The
Bow Window— The Dandies— Lord Alvanley— His dinners
—Lord Allen— Lord Sefton— The Marquess of Worcester-
Ball Hughes— Thomas Raikes— The tyranny of the Dandies
—Betting at White's . . . . • .189

Contents. ix

CHAPTER XIII.

PACK

White's under George Raggett — The Candidates' Books — Blackballing
by the Dandies — Probable reason — Expansion of Club Life in
London — Instances of particular blackballings — Reaction — A
General Meeting — The Special Committee of 1833 — Drastic
changes in Rules — Famous Foreign Members — Talleyrand —
Notice of White's in the "News and Sunday Herald" —
Crockford's — Benjamin Crockford — His career — The effect
of Crockford's on the other Clubs — Count D'Orsay . . 204

CHAPTER XIV.

Uneventful period at White's under George Raggett — His death —
Henry Raggett — His complaint to the Committee — Henry
Raggett's death — Amicable relations between White's and
the Raggett family acknowledged — The elder Percival —
Smoking in England, and at White's — Resistance by the
older members — The effect of their action— The Prince of
Wales and White's — Unsettled state of affairs under the
younger Percival — The present management . . 227

Chronicle of White's ....... 243

Addenda. — Note of Horace Walpole as to Lord Chesterfield's reasons

for leaving White's — Original letter of W. M. Thackeray . 245

Index .. - . . . . . .251

PREFACE.

" I "HE numerous writers on the social history of the
-*■ last two hundred years have given very little
attention to one of its most interesting features — the
growth of Clubs and of Club life in England. And
thus it happens that nearly all that has hitherto been
written about White's, notwithstanding the prominent
and important position among clubs it has always
occupied, is contained in a couple of pages of a
handbook to London, published nearly half-a-century
ago. The approaching bi-centenary of the opening
of White's Chocolate House, which preceded the
foundation of the Club itself by a few years only, has
been thought an appropriate time to put on record a
fuller account of White's and its traditions.

There is no lack of contemporary allusion to
White's from the first. Its members have been mostly

xii Preface.

notable men, their doings at the Club have employed the
wits of satirical writers from Pope downwards, and they
themselves have left much scattered information about
White's in their own letters and diaries. It has been
the object of the present volume to collect such of this
information as will form, with the records of the Club
itself, a connected history of a remarkable institution.

When at the end of the seventeenth century a
company of gentlemen founded the " Club at White's "
by drawing up a few simple rules to regulate their
private meetings at the Chocolate House, there were
few clubs in existence, and none which have survived to
the present day. Clubs then, were either assemblies of
men bound together by strong political feeling like the
October; small groups of philosophers and rhetoricians
who met to discuss abstract theories of ethics, like the
Rota ; or bands of choice spirits, such as those whose
very questionable doings found a historian in Ned Ward
of the London Spy. Club life as we know it, began
with the establishment of White's nearly two centuries
ago, and during those two centuries White's has seen
the origin of every other institution of its own kind

Preface. xiii

existing to-day, and the development of Club life into its
huge modern proportions.

White's, with its corporate existence of nearly two
hundred years, has associations which are far reaching
and of great interest. The Club was well established
before the last of the Stuarts left the throne, and among
its members were many of the men who led the nation to
decide in favour of the Royal House under which it is
still governed. During the aristocratic governments of
the eighteenth century, the destinies of Great Britain
were practically in the hands of members of White's.
All the Prime Ministers from Walpole to Peel, and
most of their colleagues, have been at one time or
other elected members, and a large number of the great
generals and captains who have executed the schemes of
those statesmen in all parts of the world, have spent
their leisure in the club rooms.

In looking back to the year of the establishment of
White's, one is struck by its claims to rank among the
venerable institutions of the country. White's is a year
older than the Bank of England. Its members have
assisted in the acquisition of the greater portion of the

xiv Preface.

Colonies ; it has seen the Indian Empire brought under
the British flag, and has witnessed the loss of the
American colonies. The first great master of the
English School of Painting satirized the Club in one
of his pictures, and its members were among the chief
patrons of the great portrait painters who succeeded
him. White's has existed through two great periods of
English literature, the Augustan period of Anne, and
the greater renaissance of a century later. Great
national privileges, which to-day affect the lives of
millions, religious tolerance, popular education, parlia-
mentary representation, freedom of speech and of the
press, have grown up since the Club was founded.

With these memories of White's, however, our
book has little to do ; it is of necessity confined to
narrower limits. We have attempted in the following
pages to trace, in the simplest manner, the story of this
Club, from its beginning at the Chocolate House to the
present day. Much of our history is drawn from the
gossiping letters and memoirs of members themselves,
and deals with their lighter moods and weaknesses.
But we hope to indicate the connection of White's

Preface. xv

through other of its members, with some of the great
events of the last two centuries, and for the rest to give,
perhaps, some faint picture of the company which during
the same period, has gathered within the doors of the
oldest of the clubs of London.

White's, June, iSgz.

The History of Whites.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction oj Coffee into England — The Coffee Houses — Their importance
as places of public meeting — Attempt to suppress them — Life at
Coffee Houses. — Distinct character of the Company at each of the
better known — White's Chocolate House — Disadvantages of pro-
miscuous company at fashionable houses — Transformation of Coffee
Houses into Clubs.

10 say that the whole modern system of club
life owes its existence to the introduction
of coffee into England, seems a startling
proposition, but there is little doubt of its
truth. In 1652 a Turkey merchant, one David Saunders,
met with the berry in the course of his dealings with the
East, and imported a parcel of it into London. His
friends and business connections were invited to taste the

The History of Whites.

new beverage, described by Mr. Samuel Pepys as " the
bitter black drink called Coffee," and the rage for it at
once became so great, that Saunders set up a foreign
servant, Pasqua Rosee, at a house in St. Michael's Alley,
Cornhill, with the sign of the Pasqua's Head, where the
public were able to drink the new decoction. This was
the first of the Coffee Houses in London,* which after-
wards played so important a part in the social history of
the country, and eventually became the parents of the
first of the social clubs.

Clubs, of course, had existed before the rise of the
coffee houses, indeed some writers will trace back clubs of
one sort or another to the earliest periods of human
history. But the fact remains that the great modern
institution of clubs owes its origin to the gatherings of
men which began to meet at the different coffee and
chocolate houses during the latter half of the seventeenth
century.

The coffee house has passed away and left no modern
parallel, for the club of to-day represents but one phase
of the life at a typical coffee house of the time of Queen
Anne. There may perhaps be some faint survival of the
customs which prevailed at these places still to be found
lingering at Limmer's and Long's, but to all intents and
purposes the coffee house is extinct. But the important

* There was a coffee house opened by a Jew at Oxford a little earlier.

The History of White s.

part these houses played in a very few years after their
establishment can scarcely be exaggerated. In the
reign of Charles II. they were the only means for the
expression of public opinion. There was at that time
nothing representing the modern newspaper in existence ;
public meetings and platform oratory were unknown, and
the coffee house was used for the discussion of news,
and the propagation of political opinion.* Much of the
latter was, quite naturally, hostile to the Court, and the
Government soon took alarm at this new power arising in
the very heart of the kingdom. An attempt was made
to suppress the coffee houses by royal proclamation,
" because in such houses, and by occasion of the meeting
of disaffected persons in them, divers false, malicious and
scandalous reports were devised and spread abroad, to
the defamation of his Majestie's Government, and to the
disturbance of the quiet and peace of the Realm. "+

This was in 1675, t»ut the coffee house had become
so popular with all classes, that an outcry was immediately
raised against the proclamation, and the Government
found itself too weak to enforce it. The judges were
called together and consulted as to its legality, which
appears to have been doubtful. Finally there was a show
of compromise, by which the coffee-house keepers were

* Macaulay's Hist. i. 368 et seg.
t Kennett's History of England 1706, iii. 307.

The History of Whites.

induced to make some vague promise of good behaviour
for the future. But practically the proclamation was a
dead letter, and the coffee houses flourished more than
ever, so much so that in 1710, there were two
thousand of them scattered about in London and
Westminster.*

All the coffee and chocolate houses were open to any
one who could afford to pay the very moderate charge of
admission. This was usually a penny laid on the bar on
entering, which entitled the guest to the use of the room
and of the news sheet. Every rank of life, except perhaps
the very lowest, was represented at one or other of these
houses. Men met there to transact business, talk politics,
discuss the latest play or poem, to play dice or cards.
To one man the coffee house was an office for business,
where he received and from which he dated his letters ; to
another a place in which to push his fortunes among
patrons ; to most a lounging place in which to discuss the
news and pass away the time. The advertisements of the
day are full of allusions to them. One gentleman loses his
watch or his sword, and will give a reward if they are
returned to Tom's or Button's, " and no questions
asked." Another, one Brown, " late City Marshall," will
settle all affairs that he had in his hands while holdinsf
that office, if the persons interested will repair to

North's "Examen," 1740, x^Z et seq.

The History of White's.

" Mr. Gibbon's Coffee House at Charing Cross." At
another coffee house. Widow Barn's, " there is newly
imported from Ireland a parcel of superfine and extra-
ordinary rich usquebaugh, where attendance will be given
till all sold." A regular auction by inch of candle will be
announced at another, and the creditors of a bankrupt
will meet and liquidate his estate at yet another.*

Men with the same tastes or interests naturally
congregated together ; and their meetings at particular
houses gave each a special character of its own.
Politicians of the same way of thinking frequented the
coffee house patronized by their party. The Whigs
met at the St. James's, at the bottom of the street of
the same name ; the Tories at Ozinda's close by ; and
the out-and-out Jacobites would discuss the fortunes
of the Pretenders at the Cocoa Tree, at first nearly
opposite the palace in Pall Mall, later in St. James's
Street.

Will's, at the corner of Bow Street and Russell
Street, became, under the patronage of Dryden, the
head-quarters of the literary society of the day.
Dryden was succeeded by Addison, who left after a time
with his following, to make the fortune of another
coffee house, Button's, on the other side of the way in
Russell Street. Military men met at Young Man's ;

* "Flying Post," Aug. nth, 1698.

6 The History of White's.

Scotsmen at the British or Forrest's ; lawyers at Nando's
and the Grecian, both near the Temple ; clergymen at
Child's in St. Paul's Churchyard ; stock jobbers at Old
Man's ; merchants at Garraway's or Jonathan's ;
Frenchmen at Giles's or Old Slaughter's in St. Martin's
Lane. White's Chocolate House, in St. James's
Street, was distinguished as the meeting-place of men
of fashion. It is the fortunes of this house, as the
parent of White's Club, that we have first to follow.

The special character given to each of the better-
known houses by its regular customers, did not close
it to the general public. Any one who was decently
clad, and could behave himself, was free to enter
White's or any other of the more fashionable houses
which were grouped near St. James's Palace. Smoking,
we read, was general in all but these few West-end
houses. Here tobacco was to be found only in the
form of finely-scented snuff, " and if any clown, ignorant
of the usages of the house, called for a pipe, the sneers
of the whole assembly, and the short answers of the
waiters, soon convinced him that he had better go some-
where else."

At the time when coffee houses became well
established as an institution, say during the last
quarter of the seventeenth century, the meeting of
different classes within their doors, classes elsewhere
separated more sharply than is conceivable to-day, was

The History of Whites.

no doubt of very great advantage. A writer of 1724
is enthusiastic on this point. " After the play, the best
company generally go to Tom's or Will's coffee houses
near adjoining, where there is playing at piquet and
the best of conversation until midnight. Here you will
see blue and green ribands and stars sitting familiarly
with private gentlemen and talking with the same
freedom as if they had left their quality and degrees
of distance at home, and a stranger tastes with pleasure
the universal liberty of speech of the English nation."*
But in the better class of coffee and chocolate
houses these advantages of free intercourse had corres-
ponding disadvantages, and these perhaps would be felt
most in the professed houses of fashion, of which White's
Chocolate House was the chief. Play at these places
had early become general, and in its train had followed
whole swarms of adventurers, sharpers and even
highwaymen, whose bold bearing and assurance was
quite sufificient to enable them to mix with the company
at White's, or other of the fashionable assemblies where
high play was going on. It was inconvenient, to say
the least, that one of these gentlemen should rub
shoulders with the judge who might afterwards have to
sentence him for highway robbery. Considerations of
this sort doubtless induced the respectable frequenters of

Mackay, "Journey through England."

8 The History of White's.

many of the coffee houses to form themselves into private
clubs, meeting at the house, but with a room or rooms of
their own to which members only were admitted.
White's was the first to adopt this course. Others
followed its example. Swift, at first a frequenter of
Button's, formed a small club called the Brothers, at the
Thatched House, and in his Journal to Stella, he
grumbles at the price of the dinner. Johnson later formed
his famous Literary Club at the Turk's Head, in Gerrard
Street. Tom's Coffee House became a private club, and
the present Cocoa Tree, Boodle's and Thatched House
Clubs, as well as White's, are all examples of existing
clubs originally formed at coffee houses or taverns.

White's Chocolate House, from the first the resort
of the well-born and fashionable, skimmed the cream of
its company to form the " Club at White's " ; the club
thus formed drew into its ranks the leading men of the
day, and as time went on, increased its numbers and
influence. The proprietor soon found the catering for
its members, all men of means and leisure, the chief part
of his business, and more lucrative than the custom of the
general public. His interest accorded with the wishes of
his patrons, the public were eventually excluded, and
White's Chocolate House was transformed into the
private and exclusive society since known as " White's."

W
H

iz;

o
(—1

CO
C/2

Pi
p->

H
O

I—*

Pi
H
<

pq
W

CHAPTER II.

Whites Chocolate House — Site of the original Whites — Francis White —
Removal of Whitens to ne-ju building — White's Will — Widow
White — Her prosperity— Fashionable character of her house —
Masquerades and operas^John Arthur — Fire at White's in
1733 — Temporary removal of White's to Gaunt^s Coffee House —
Whites and Hogarth — Robert Arthur.

The site of White's Chocolate House has been a
stumbling block to most of the London topographers.
Peter Cunningham, in his " London Past and Present "
(1850), is the first who attempts to fix it, and he places the
house five doors from the bottom of St. James's Street, on
the west side, and gives the date of the opening as circa
1698. Cunningham founded his opinion as to the
position of the house on a print published in 1751,
showing a procession which accompanied the Hon.
Alexander Murray on his release from Newgate, where
he had been imprisoned for interfering with the High
Bailiff of Westminster in one of the elections for that
borough. A drawing from this print is here reproduced,
and at first sight it would seem to place White's five
doors exactly from the bottom of the street. But it must
be remembered that in caricature of this sort accuracy of
detail was nearly always wanting, especially in background.

lo The History of White s.

One has only to look at the work of much abler artists
than the one here employed, to be convinced of this. The
perspective of Gilray, for instance, is atrocious.

The artist here was representing a popular demon-
stration, and he naturally thought first of his figures.
To give point to the democratic nature of the occasion
by a contrast, he places his procession in front of the
aristocratic White's in St. James's Street. In doing
this, he no doubt wished to convey the fact that
White's in 1751 was on the west side, and near the
bottom of the street, and this general truth he has
given. But, in the presence of contrary evidence, the
print is not worth serious consideration as an authority
for accurately fixing the site of a particular house.

This site, however, has been accepted as that
of the original White's by most of the writers who
have dealt with the matter since Cunningham's book
appeared. A writer in the " National Review," in an
article which is in most respects the best short account of
clubs and club life extant,* adopts the theory as a matter of
course ; his essay being really a review of Cunningham's
book. Other writers — Mr. Timbs, Mr. Wheatley and
Mr, Walford — have followed him like sheep through a
gap. None of these gentlemen seem to have consulted
the rate-books of St. James's, Westminster. These
books prove beyond any doubt whatever that White's

* "National Review," No. 8, 1857.

The History of White's. ii

Chocolate House was opened by a Francis White in
1693, at a house on the east side of the street, which
stood on the site of the present Boodle's Club.

Westminster originally consisted of two parishes
only, St. Margaret's and St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. St.
Paul's Covent Garden, formed in 1660, St. Anne's Soho
in 1678, St. James's in 1684, St. George's Hanover Square
in 1724, and St. John's in 1728, are all subdivisions of
those two original parishes. St. James's Street was a new
part of the town at the time we are considering. Defoe,
writing in 17 14, says, "The increase of buildings here is
really a kind of prodigy. All the buildings north of
Long Acre up to Seven Dials, all the streets from
Leicester Fields to St. Martin's Lane, both north and
west from the Hay market to St. James's Street inclusive
to the Park wall, even all the buildings on the north
side of the street called Piccadilly and the road to
Knightsbridge .... were within the time men-
tioned meer fields of grass, as other fields are. " * The
period he is speaking of is that between the Great
Fire in 1666 and the date of his book, 17 14.

Cunningham and the rest of the writers on the
early history of White's, make no mention of White
himself ; they all begin with the younger Arthur, the
second of two of White's successors of that name. We
have nothing to do with White's life previous to his

* Defoe, "Tour through England, 17 14," ii. 118.

12 The History of White's.

appearance in St. James's Street, indeed nothing is known
of it. He had probably been in business of the same
kind before, and from his will it is clear that he could
not have been a very young man in 1693. It is likely
that he was attracted to the West- end by the exodus
of fashion which had taken place in that direction.
St. James's Square, Cleveland Row, and St. James's
Place were then, as now, occupied almost exclusively
by " persons of quality." St. James's Street was in the
centre of this good neighbourhood, and White no
doubt chose it as a situation likely to afford him a
remunerative class of customers for his new venture.
Here he set up, as we have said, In 1693.

Francis White seems to have been successful from
the first, for, after four years' residence in his first house,
we find him crossing the street to another at a higher
rental, his rates being considerably increased. This
house, on the west side of the street, was three doors
below St. James's Place, and Its site was that of the
northern part of the present Arthur's Club. Here he
continued at the same rental until 1702, when he
added the next house below to his premises. In this
year the name of a John Arthur appears as his next-
door neighbour above, and this name, as will be seen,
is an important one In tracing the subsequent history
of the Club. Arthur was at this time White's servant
and assistant manager.

o
c/3

■A

3
O

■a

•c

flH

cyi

tii

CuO

rfS

The History of White's. 13

At the enlarged premises, White carried on the
business of the Chocolate House until his death in
171 1. He was buried in February of that year at St.
James's Church in Piccadilly, and his will shows that
he was a man of some property.

This document, executed in 1708, begins in the
impressive manner usual in wills of that time, and
states that the testator is " weake and infirm in body,
but in sound disposing mind and memory (thanks be
given to Almighty God for the same) ". From it we
learn that White left four children, minors, and a
widow, Elizabeth, but that the rest of his connections
were settled in Italy. Thus there are legacies to his
sister, Angela Maria, wife of Tomaso Casanova of
Verona, and to "my aunt, Nicoletta Tomasi," also
settled at Verona. It is possible that White himself
was an Italian, or of Italian extraction. It is not at
all unusual for foreigners settled in England to
assume an English form of their patronymic. White
may have been some Bianco or Bianchi who
took advantage of the culinary reputation which
rightly or wrongly is enjoyed by one or two
foreign nations, to embark in a catering business in
the land of his adoption.

The legacies mentioned in the will amount to
^"2,750, a comfortable sum of money in those days for
a man of White's station. His widow, Elizabeth, is

14 The History of White's.

named as residuary legatee, and sole executrix so long
as she remained a widow. She could only console
herself with a second husband under penalty of two
hundred pounds to be paid to each of the four children.

Elizabeth White succeeded her husband in the
management of the Chocolate House, and under her
its prosperity continued. Her house became the centre
of the fashionable life of the day, and the place from
which its amusements were directed. Advertisements
in the papers show that " Mrs. White's Chocolate House,
in St. James's Street," was the place of distribution
of tickets for all the fashionable amusements of the early
years of the eighteenth century. Opera was being
produced at the Haymarket, and the announcement of
the performance of each new piece is accompanied by
the notice that tickets are to be obtained at Mrs.
White's. A little later, Heidegger was taking the
town by storm with his masquerades, ridottos and
balls. He was quick to see that Mrs. White's was
an advantageous ground from which to reach his
patrons of the aristocracy. He accordingly issued his
admissions for these entertainments from White's, and
requested those who were not using them to return
them there, in order to prevent their falling into bad
hands, and so spoiling the select character of his
assemblies. Mrs. White's prosperity is even reflected
in the rate-books. The entries give us three degrees

ST. JAMES'S STREET, shewing Arthur's Club.

This Building, since much enlarged, was occupied by White's from 1697 to 1755.
From a Drawing by Holland Tringham.

The History of Whites. 15

of comparison. At White's death, positive, "Widow
White " ; later, comparative, " Mrs. White " ; later still,
superlative, " Madam White." The Bumble of the
period was evidently impressed by her prosperity, and
by the fine company which met at her house.

Madam White continued at the Chocolate House
until some time between 1725 and 1729 (the exact year
is uncertain, as the rate-books for those years are
missing), and she probably left the place with a fortune.
We have not succeeded in tracing this lady further.
She is not buried in St. James's parish, and does not
seem to have left a will. Whether she joined her husband's
friends abroad, or again changed her name at a cost
of eight hundred pounds, is now only a matter of con-
jecture, which falls outside the scope of our history.

In 1730, John Arthur, Francis White's assistant,
appears as the tenant of the premises. Arthur had
no doubt been associated with the widow in the
management of the place, and its flourishing condition
continued after he became proprietor, for in 1732
we find him adding the house he had formerly occupied
to the two rented by White and his widow, and the
business of White's Chocolate House was after that
year conducted in the second, third and fourth houses
below the corner of St. James's Place.

It was under John Arthur's management in the
following year, 1733, that an event happened which

1 6 The History of Whiie's.

robbed us of the original records of the Club which was
meeting daily at White's. In April of that year the
Chocolate House was burnt to the ground with every-
thing in it, and the inmates themselves seem to have had
difficulty in escaping. The fire occurred at four o'clock
in the morning, and was duly noticed in the newspapers.
The "Daily Courant " of April 30th, 1733, says: —

" On Saturday morning about four o'clock, a fire
broke out at Mr. Arthur's, at White's Chocolate House
in St. James's Street, which burnt with great violence,
and in a short time entirely consumed that house with
two others, and much damaged several others adjoining.
Young Mr. Arthur's wife leaped out of a window two
pair of stairs upon a feather bed without much hurt.
A fine collection of paintings belonging to Sir Andrew
Fountaine, valued at ;;^3,ooo at least, was entirely
destroyed. His Majesty and the Prince of Wales were
present above an hour, and encouraged the firemen and
people to work at the engines, a guard being ordered
from St. James's to keep off the populace. His majesty
ordered twenty guineas among the firemen and others
that worked at the engines, and five guineas to the
guard ; and the Prince ordered the firemen ten guineas."

It must have been a good blaze which brought
George II. from his bed at four o'clock on a spring
morning. The Prince, too, it seems, was there. Frederic
was fond of fires, and of the mob popularity he gained

GAUNT'S COFFEE HOUSE.

Thb Club House of Old White's, 1733 — 36.

This bouse, still standing, is occupied by Mr. Bignell's Racing Club, and by Messrs. WaUis and Son.
From a Drawing by Holland Tringham.

The History of White's. 17

by attending them. On one occasion, at a fire in the
Temple, he stayed from nine at night till five the
next morning. The crowd were so pleased with his
exertions, that there were shouts of " Crown him,"
" Crown him." This may account for the King's
appearance at White's, for he was intensely jealous of
any popularity his son enjoyed.

On May 3rd following, Arthur advertised in the
" Daily Post " " to acquaint all noblemen and gentlemen "
that, having had the misfortune to be burnt out of White's
Chocolate House, he had " removed to Gaunt's Coffee
House, next the St. James's Coffee House in St. James's
Street, where he humbly begs that all will favour him
with their company as usual. "

The St. James's Coffee House, according to
Cunningham, was the last house but one on the west
side of the street at the bottom, and was kept at this
time by a man named Elliot. Now Elliot was the third
tenant up from the corner of Cleveland Row. Lord
Shelburne was at the corner house, next above him a
George Morriss, then Elliot.* Opposite the name of
Morriss, in the rate-book, is an entry in another hand,
" Mr. Arthur." From this it seems pretty clear that the
St. James's was three doors up the street, and that
Gaunt's was kept by Morriss one door below, that is,

* Rate Books of St. James's Parish.

1 8 The History of White's.

the second from the corner. Any way, Arthur removed
to Gaunt's in 1733, and for three years the business of
White's Chocolate House was there carried on. The site
is to-day occupied by Mr. Bignell's Racirg Club, and by
Mr. Wallis the wine merchant, and it is probable that the
present house, somewhat altered, is the original Gaunt's.

Gaunt's and the rest of the houses at that time
standing at the south-western end of St. James's Street,
were built on ground which has interesting associations.
In 1668 Charles II. had given or lent to Barbara,
Duchess of Cleveland, the mansion called Berkshire
House, which stood in large grounds on the north side
of Cleveland Row, and had a garden running up the side
of St. James's Street, and forming its boundary as far as
Catherine Wheel Yard. In 1670 changes were made in
this property ; Berkshire House was pulled down and
Cleveland House built. Part of the ground covered by
the garden was let or sold for building, and the houses
forming the south-western end of the street, including
Gaunt's, were erected upon it.

Now, about the time of the fire, Hogarth was
preparing for publication the engravings from his " Rake's
Progress " series of paintings. He had chosen St. James's
Street as the scene of one of his vivid pictures of the
downward progress of the Rake, and in Plate IV. we see
him arrested for debt at the corner of Ryder Street.
Each plate of the series is dated June 25th, 1735.

^ .S

'" .s

o
o

P-.

W
H

a
'>
a

The History of W/iiie's. 19

This would be the date of the completion of the last
plate, and the pictures had of course been finished earlier.

Plate IV. was one in which Hogarth made great
alterations before publishing the final state. The group
of boys gambling in the foreground does not appear in
the original picture, or in the first state of the
engraving, and the very marked allusion to White's, in
the background, occurs only in the final state.

It would seem that Hogarth had painted this
picture before the occurrence of the fire at White's in
1733, and had proceeded with the engraving of it.
The fire resulted, as we know, in the temporary removal
of White's to the bottom of the street. White's, in
fact, moved into a house already painted by Hogarth
in the middle of the background of his picture. Here
was an opportunity which he was quick to seize in
order to give additional point to his satire. He
accordingly introduced in the engraving a sign bearing
the word " White's " projecting from the front of
Gaunt's, and added a portentous flash of lightning, with
a barbed head like a harpoon, issuing from a thunder-
cloud, and pointing straight at the house. The place
by this time had become notorious for the high play
that went on, and was fair game for the great satirist,
who further emphasizes the point by filling his foreground
with a group of gambling street-boys, as a contrast to
the aristocratic gaming house in the background.

20 The History of White s.

The whole picture is reversed by the process of
engraving, and in the print this makes White's appear
on the wrong side of the street. This peculiarity has
been copied in engravings made since, and has led
more than one writer to place White's on the east side
of the street.* But there is at the British Museum
a small plate of No. IV. of the Rake series, reversed
to show the proper arrangement of the composition as
it appears in the original painting still to be seen at
the Soane Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields. This plan
has been adopted in reproducing the engraving here.

Returning to Arthur and the Chocolate House, we
find the house was some time in rebuilding after the fire.
In 1736, Robert Arthur, the "young Mr. Arthur" of
the notice in the newspaper, appears in the newly-built
house at the old address,t which, from the rental, must
have covered the sites of the three houses which had
been burnt. John Arthur had either died, or had made
over his business to his son Robert. This gentleman,
as we shall see, was proprietor when the first existing
records of White's Club begin.

* See engravings in Knight's " London," 1850, and Timb's
" Clubs and Club Life." Mr. Walford, in his valuable " Old and
New London, " says, " White's originally stood on the eastern side,
nearly opposite to where are now the Conservative and Thatched
House Clubs."

\ Rate Books, St. James's.

CHAPTER III.

Contemporary references to Whites — Allusions on Gambling — Farquhar,
Gay, Steele, Addison, Pope, Colley Gibber, on Whites — Swift-
Mrs. Delaney — Heidegger' s Masquerades — Popular opposition to
Masquerades — Satirical Notices — Hogarth.

In the foregoing chapters we have traced White's Choco-
late House under successive proprietors, from its foun-
dation by Francis White in 1693, down to the year 1736,
when young Arthur took over the management from his
father after the fire. We have mentioned that the first
existing records of the " Club at White's " begin in that
year ; but before passing on to consider these, we may try
to supply the loss of the original books, by whatever
information as to early doings at White's we can gather
from outside sources.

White's soon began to attract the attention of the
writers of the day. The Chocolate House was from the
first, as we have seen, a meeting place for men of leisure
and fortune, and for the followers who lived upon them.
Field sports, which at present occupy so much of the time
of men of position, were little followed by their ancestors

22 The History of Whites.

in the days of Queen Anne. The love of natural scenery,
which takes so many of the independent classes into the
country or abroad for a great part of the year, was not
general. A stay of a few weeks in the provinces was
regarded as a banishment, young men in society had
done most of their travelling when they returned from
the grand tour. The gilded youth of the eighteenth
century, as a rule, occupied his ample leisure by a
thorough-going indulgence in the passion for play, which
was common to all classes from the Court downwards.

In most of the early references to life at White's
this is alluded to with the utmost candour. In passing
on to consider them, we may note that they are drawn
almost entirely from the writings of outsiders. To many
of these the acquaintance of the company which met at
White's was like sour grapes to the fox in the fable, and
we think this will account for a good deal of the exaggera-
tion which undoubtedly exists in some of the quotations
we shall have to make.

One of the first of these allusions occurs in George
Farquhar's " Beaux's Stratagem," published in 1707.
Here one ruffian asks another if he has not seen his face
at White's, and is told, " Ay, and at Will's, too." If this
is to be taken literally, it would seem that the literary
reputation of the company at Will's was not sufficient to
exclude doubtful characters when gaming was going on.
Gay's allusion to White's, in "Trivia," points only to

The History of White's. 23

the fashionable character of its company, which found
employment for the chairmen :

" At White's the harnessed chairman idly stands,
And swings around his waist his tingling hands."

The genial Richard Steele is another who makes
early mention of White's. Steele, though never a
member of the Club, must often have been of the com-
pany at the Chocolate House. He was living over the
way in 1 7 16. In the first number of the " Tatler," pub-
lished in 1 709, he informs his readers that " all accounts
of gallantry, pleasure and entertainment shall be under
the article of White's Chocolate House," while Will's
was to supply the poetry and the Grecian the learning.
We find, accordingly, many of the early numbers of the
" Tatler " dated from White's. Steele further asks his
readers to consider " that as I cannot keep an ingenious
man to go daily to Will's under 2d. each day, merely
for charges, to White's under 6d., nor to the Grecian
without allowing him some plain Spanish .... I
say these considerations will, I hope, make all persons
willing to comply with my humble request "... (of
buying his paper).

From this it seems that the ordinary charge of a
penny for entrance to a coffee house was increased in the
case of fashionable houses like Will's and White's.

24 The History of Whites.

Joseph Addison, too, has a word to say about White's
in his prologue to Steele's " Tender Husband " :

" Our modern wits are forc'd to pick and cull,
And here and there by chance pick up a fool.
Long ere they find the necessary spark,
They search the town and beat about the park.
To all his most frequented haunts resort,
Oft dog him in the ring, and oft to Court.
As love of pleasure or of place invites,
And sometimes find him taking snuff at White's."

There is a passage in the life of Arthur Maynwaring,
published in 1715, and written by John Oldmixon, which
is interesting as mentioning a garden as part of the pre-
mises at White's. Oldmixon gave his friend an appoint-
ment at the Chocolate House in 1710, and we read that
they retired into the garden and discussed the authorship
of the " Examiner," about which Maynwaring was much
exercised. This garden is shown in an old plan of St.
James's, and its boundaries may still be traced at the
back of Arthur's Club.

When we come to consider the records of the " Club
at White's," we shall find among the names, in the early
lists of members, that of Mr. CoUey Cibber, the poet
laureate. It was probably his membership that attracted
Pope's attention to the Club. In holding up the laureate
to the derision of the world in the " Dunciad," he men-
tions it more than once. Thus :

" Or chair'd at White's among the Doctors sit,
Teach oaths to gamesters, and to nobles wit"

THE BACK OF WHITE'S CHOCOLATE HOUSE, FROM

THE GARDEN.

(As Rebuilt after the Fire in 1733).

THE CLUB HOUSE OF WHITE'S, 1697— 1733, and 1736— J7SS-

FROM AN OLD PRINT.

The History of Whites. 25

" Doctors," it may be noted, was a slang term of the
period for loaded dice. Again :

" This arch absurd that wit and fool delights,
This mess toss'd up of Hockley Hole and White's."

And again :

" Familiar White's God save, King Colley cries ;
God save King Colley, Drury Lane replies."

There is a piece of not very good-natured gossip in
Davie's Life of Garrick, which explains the last couplet :

" But Colley, we are told, had the honour to be a
member of the great Club at White's ; and so, I suppose,
might any man who wore good clothes and paid his
money when he lost it. But on what terms did Cibber
live with this society ? Why, he feasted most sumptuously,
as I have heard his friend Victor say with an air of
triumphant exultation, with Mr. Arthur and his wife, and
gave a trifle for his dinner. After he had dined, when
the club room door was opened, and the laureate was
introduced, he was saluted with the loud and joyous
acclamation of ' Old King Coll ! — come in, King Coll.
Welcome, welcome. King Colley.' And this kind of
gratulation Mr. Victor thought was very gracious
and very honourable."

In the Moral Essays, Pope makes further allusion to
White's. Here the poet is supposed to be discussing
with Lord Bathurst the use and abuse of riches, and in
the course of the conversation he makes some speculations

26 The History of White s

on a world in which there should be no money, and
where all bargains must be made in kind. Statesmen,
says he, would find it difficult to accept bribes in the
shape of barrels of wine, bales of wool or droves of oxen.
Gambling at White's, too, would be a different business
altogether. There is great humour in his picture of
White's in these circumstances :

" His Grace would game, to White's a bull be led,
With spurning heels, and with a butting head ;
To White's be carried, as to ancient games,
Fair coursers, vases, and alluring dames."

Pope goes on to draw a shocking picture. One of
the gamesters, whom he calls Uxorio, wins half-a-dozen
of the last-named stakes, and moves his wife to tears by
bearing them home. His Grace is the third Duke of
Bedford. He lost an immense sum to a notorious
gamester, Sir Theodore Jansen, whose extraordinary luck
had made him the subject of some suspicion. Pope
alludes to the event in his Satire :

" As when a Duke to Jansen punts at White's."

Lastly, in the eighth Satire :

" See where the British youth, engaged no more

At Figg's, at White's, with felons or a w ,

Pay their last duty to the Court, and come
All fresh and fragrant to the Drawing room."

And in an explanatory note of Pope's own, he calls
White's " a noted gaming house."

{ '. , ///■////■// r/r/

JOHN JAMES HEIDEGGER.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By W. Sharp, from the Death Mask.

The History of White's. 27

Jonathan Swift, we find from his Essay on Educa-
tion, had " heard that the late Earl of Oxford, in the
time of his Ministry, never passed by White's Chocolate
House (the common rendezvous of infamous sharpers and
noble cullies) without bestowing a curse on that famous
academy, as the bane of half the English aristocracy."

It is not surprising that Pope and Swift found
themselves little in sympathy with the company which
met at White's. It is said that neither of these two
friends was ever seen to laugh. Besides, they were on the
losing side in politics, and White's, as we shall see later,
was identified with more than one of the statesmen who
ruled the roast when George the First came over from
Hanover.

Mrs. Delany turns up her eyes in horror at some of
the doings at White's, and apropos of some large cast at
hazard between Capt. O'Brien and Sir John Bland, she
writes : " What a curse to nations is such a pit of
destruction as White's. It is a sad thing that in a
Xtian country it should continue undemolished."*

It has been mentioned that under the widow's manage-
ment White's had much to do with the masquerades and
ridottos which for many years formed the chief amuse-
ment of people of fashion. John James Heidegger
was the originator of public masquerades, and his

* Delany Correspondence, i. 594-

28 The History of White's.

success in these, and other matters patronised by the
aristocracy, eventually led to his being admitted as a
member of the " Club at White's." He seems to have
organised his first masquerade in 171 7. In the early
part of that year Pope writes to Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu : " For the news in London, I'll sum it up in
short : we have masquerades at the theatre in the
Haymarket, of Mr. Heidegger's institution; they are
very frequent."

These entertainments at once became the fashion
amongst the higher classes, and the object of a deter-
mined opposition from everyone else. There seems to
have been a prejudice against masques in the popular
mind, which dated, perhaps, from the days of Charles I.,
when Queen Henrietta Maria produced one at Whitehall
on a Sunday. A mob assembled outside, and protested
in riotous fashion against what they considered a violation
of the Lord's day. Whatever the cause, there was a
very decided set against masquerades under Heidegger's
management by all who did not take part in them.
Bishops preached against them ; the writers of the period
satirized them; the grand jury presented them, "conceiving
the same to be a wicked and unlawful design to carry on
gaming, chances by way of lottery and other impious and
illegal practices." There was even an attempt to pass an
Act of Parliament against them. But Heidegger had the
support of all the people of influence, which with the

PHILIP DORMER, FOURTH EARL OF CHESTERFIELD.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By J. Brooks, after W. Hoare.

The History of White's. 29

patronage of the Court itself, enabled him to laugh at the
opposition of the populace.

It is difficult to ascertain the precise objection taken
to these entertainments ; the accusers are full of vague
charges, but do not descend to particulars. There is
nothing dreadful in the references to masquerades in the
memoirs and correspondence of the time. Pope, who was
prone enough to find fault, says nothing against them in
the passage we have quoted. Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu describes a very ordinary feminine quarrel with
a Mrs. Murray at one of them. Lord Chesterfield's
allusion, too, is quite innocent. He wrote to Mrs. Howard
in 1728: "I considered you particularly last Tuesday,
suffering the heat and disorders of the masquerade,
supported by the Duchess of Richmond on one side and
Miss Fitzwilliam on the other."

On the other hand, writers of the time who looked
on masquerades from the outside, if wanting in definite
accusation, are prodigal in innuendo. Here is Defoe, for
instance, in his " Tour " :

" Advancing to the Haymarket, we saw first a great
new theatre, a very magnificent building, and perfectly
accomplished for the thing for which it was built, though
the entertainments there of late have been chiefly operas
and balls. These meetings are called balls, the word
masquerade not being so well relished by the English,
who, though at first fond of the novelty, began to be sick

30 The History of White's.

of the thing on many accounts. However, as I cannot
in justice say anything to recommend them, and am by no
means to make this work a satyr upon anything, I choose
to say no more, but to go on."*

There is an account, too, of an intrigue in a brochure
called the " Masqueraders," one of a good many minor
publications called forth by the prevailing rage, from which
it would appear that it was an ordinary thing, attracting
no attention, for a gentleman to greet a lady of his
acquaintance at the masquerade by taking her in his arms.
Heidegger's own advertisements are of a suspicious
character. Tickets were issued (from White's) to sub-
scribers, and every effort was made to keep the assemblies
select. People of quality were begged not to allow their
names to be used for obtaining tickets, and if they had
more than they required, to return them, " to prevent
them falling into bad hands." He advertised, also, that
there would always be a " sufficient guard within and
without to prevent all disorders and indecencies," and that
" strict orders were given not to deliver any glasses or
bottles from the sideboards, and to shut them up
early."

A letter in the " Guardian " relates some strange
experiences of the writer at a masquerade given by the
French Ambassador. This would seem to indicate a

* "Tour through England," ii. ii8.

Q
<

Pi!

W 2

Oi w

g
Eh

The History of Whitens. 31

curious confusion of sexes at these entertainments. " I
had like to have been knocked down by a shepherdess,"
says the writer," for having run my elbow a little inadver-
tently into her side. She swore like a trooper, and
threatened me with a very masculine voice. But I was
timely taken off by a presbyterian parson, who told me in
a very soft tone that he believed I was a very pretty fellow,
and that he would meet me in Spring Gardens to-morrow
night." *

Hogarth found a subject for his satire in the mas-
querade. He mocked the fashion in an engraving
published in 1727, to which he gave the title of " The
Masquerade Ticket." There is no beating about the
bush here. It shows a large room with a masquerade in
progress. The presiding deities are Venus and Priapus,
and an altar blazes to each. The altar of the goddess is
decorated with periwigs and ribbons, and bears a sacrifice
of bleeding hearts ; that of the god with the horns of
stags. Further down the room, one on each side, are a
pair of what the inscription tells us are " lecherometers,"
displayed like weather glasses against the wall. Cakes
and jellies on sideboards in the background are labelled
provocatives, and the end of the room is filled by a picture
in which nymphs and bacchanals and satyrs are the chief
figures. The design is surmounted by a clock, the hands

* Guardian, No. 154.

32 The History of Whitens.

and pendulum of which are inscribed-'with words indicating
that nonsense occurs every second, impudence every
minute, and wit only once an hour.

Heidegger made some show of deference to the
popular agitation against the masquerade, but it was little
else. He altered the name but not the character of his
entertainments, and the masquerade as the Ridotto was
as much the fashion as ever. Bramston, in the " Man of
Taste," alludes to this :

" Thou Heidegger, the English taste hast found,
And rul'st the mob of quality with sound ;
In Lent, if Masquerades displease the town,
Call 'em Ridottos, and they still go down.
Go on, Prince Phiz, to please the British nation.
Call thy next Masquerade a Convocation."

Heidegger went on, and made a very good thing of
it. From the vantage ground of White's he continued to
deal his tickets for Ball, Masquerade or Ridotto, and
boasted of clearing five thousand a year by the business.

HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE II.

From the Original Painting by Kneller, presented to the Club in 1788 by
The Earl of Bessborouch.

CHAPTER IV.

The first Rules of the " Old Club " — List of Members in I T^^— Contem-
porary Affairs — Quarrels at Court — Division of Society — Prominent
Members of White's in lT})i>—Walpole — Pulteney — Dodington —
Chesterfield — Marlborough — Bedford — Newcastle — Pelham, Sr'c. —
Cibber — Heidegger — Masquerades—Duke of Montagus Practical
foke — Robert Arthur — White's not a Political Club.

" We whose names are hereunto subscribed do agree
that the following Rules be observed :

1. That no one be admitted but by ballot.

2. That nobody be proposed but when twelve
members are present.

3. That there be twelve members present when the
person is ballotted for, which is to be the day sevennight
after he is proposed, and one black ball is an exclusion
for that time.

4. That any person that is ballotted for before nine
a clock is not duely elected.

5. That every member is to pay a guinea a year
towards having a good cook.

6. That no person be admitted to dinner or supper
but what are members of the Club.

7. That every member that is in the room after ten
a clock is to pay his reckn"- at supper.

34 The History of Whitens.

8. The supper to be on table at ten a clock, and the
bill at twelve.

9. That every member who is in the room after
seven a clock, and plays, is to pay half a crown.

10. That no person be proposed or ballotted for, but
during the sitting of Parliament."

On the first page of the first of the existing books
of White's Club are written these rules. The book
itself is dated October ye 30th, 1736, and entitled
" Rules of the Old Club at White's."

The Old Club at White's, as the name implies, was
no new institution in 1 736, but had met at the Chocolate
House for many years before that date. The fire of
1733, unfortunately, robbed us of all information as to
the exact year of its foundation, and of the names of its
first members. Who the gentlemen were who agreed to
.subscribe their names to these rules it is impossible now
to say. As soon as Robert Arthur was settled in his
new house in 1736, he opened his club book with a copy
of the original rules, evidently written from memory ;
but much to our loss he seems to have made no effort to
get together the names of the original members.

This points to the conclusion that the Old Club at
White's was founded well before the time of the Arthurs.
Robert Arthur, as we know, was a married man in 1733,
and if the Old Club had been established within his
memory, he would doubtless have recollected the

I?L^*^ iriuol'iBi^

THE GAMING ROOM OF THE OLD CLUB AT WHITE'S.

KKOM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING IN THK POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By Holland Tringham. This Room still exists at Arthur's.

msa^.

TFTT

The History of White's.

founders, and would have made record of their names,
together with the original rules, in his first book.

The rules are followed by a list of eighty-two
members, who composed the Old Club at White's in
1736. We shall find, in discussing the doings of some
of these gentlemen, that many of them were in that
year men of mature age. It is possible that amongst
these were some who had helped to found the original
Club — perhaps, as reported by tradition, in 1697, when
Francis White moved across the street to the larger
premises on the site of the present Arthur's.

Our history, however, opens perforce in 1736, a
year which brings us well into the reign of George II.,
and we may here glance very briefly at contemporary
affairs in England.

The King had been nine years on the throne, and
the po.ssession of that throne by his house was by this
time fairly secure. There had been trouble in 171 5,
when the Pretender had made that miserable attempt
in Scotland, which ended so disastrously for his friends
in the north. But the Jacobites were less bold in action
than skilful in intrigue, and the best opportunity they
were ever to have of placing James on the throne was
allowed to pass without an effort at all adequate to the
end in view.

In 1736 affairs in England were peaceful. Walpole
was at the height of his power ; he and the Queen were

36 The History of Whites.

ruling the country much as they liked, and the chief
interest of the time centres in the Court itself, and in the
dissensions between the King and the Prince of Wales.
This, at the time we are considering, had grown into a
very pretty quarrel, and as most of the members of
White's were concerned with one side or the other,
M'e may glance at it here.

The House of Brunswick was remarkable for the
ill feeling which existed between father and son.
George II. as Prince of Wales had been on notoriously
bad terms with his father, and when he came to the
throne soon found that the example had not been lost
on his son Frederick. What the original quarrel was
it is impossible to say, but immediately after the King's
accession there was open rupture. The Prince, still in
Hanover, and eager to be married, made a secret
proposal for the hand of the Princess Wilhelmina of
Prussia. There had been talk of this betrothment
between the two mothers, but George II. was on such
terms with the Prussian Court that he, at any rate, had
abandoned all idea of the match. The Queen of Prussia,
however, was delighted — too delighted to keep the secret,
for she happened to mention the affair to the English
Ambassador, who at once communicated the intelligence
to the King. The King would not hear of it, and
Frederick had to give ujd his bride.

Later we read that the Prince was left out of the

The History of White's. 37

Regency when the King went abroad, and that " he took
this very ill." There was a grievance, too, about his
allowance. George, as Prince of Wales, had received
an annuity of ;^ 100,000, and Frederick had, perhaps, a
right to expect more than ^26,000, which was all he got.
There were other causes of complaint. Frederick asked
for a military command. They were all given to his brother
the Duke of Cumberland. He proposed going abroad
to serve on the Rhine. The King would not hear of it.
The Prince sulked, posed as an injured innocent, took
every opportunity of insulting his father and mother, and
matters at one time came to such a pass, that the Queen
declared, " My dear firstborn is the greatest ass, and the
greatest liar, and the greatest canaille, and the greatest
beast in the whole world, and I heartily wish he was out
of it."

The effect of all this was to divide the society with
which we are concerned into two distinct camps. The
Prince, who had been turned out of St. James's after the
birth of his first child, set up a court of his own, which
became the head-quarters of the Opposition, and of mal-
contents generally. Any courtier out of favour with the
King was sure of a flattering reception here. On the
other hand, it was ruin for anyone connected with the
Government to appear at Norfolk House. The King
forbad all who went there to come to his own Court at
St. James's, and the foreign ambassadors were notified

38 The History of White's.

that their visiting the Prince would be distasteful to the
King.

The intrigues continually on foot at the rival Courts,
the jealousies, backbitings, appointments, dismissals at
each, the humours of the King, the patient watchfulness
of the Queen, the vapourings of the Prince, all appear in
the vivid pages of Lord Hervey. After making due
allowance for the prejudice of the courtier and the sneer-
ing cynicism of the man, that nobleman's memoirs afford
a source of information from which one can draw much
of interest concerning the men who were meeting at the
Old Club at White's in 1736.

First among these, in point of interest, is Sir Robert
Walpole, the great Whig leader. He was at this time
the most considerable man in England, and the dexterity
he displayed in a difficult position at Court, as revealed by
Lord Hervey, is nothing less than amazing. The King
at first hated him. It was Walpole who, as his son tells
us, killed two horses in carrying the news of the old
King's death to George at Richmond, and for his pains
was told by that Monarch to go for his orders to the
old favourite, Sir Spencer Compton.

The crafty Minister did as he was bid, posted off to
Chiswick, humbled himself before Compton, and was
employed by that simple gentleman to prepare the
necessary speech for the King on his accession. This
was Walpole's opportunity. The Queen, his friend, took

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, FIRST EARL OF ORFORD.

PKOM AN ENGRAVING AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

By J. TiMON, after H. Hysing.

The History of White's. 39

the occasion to point out to the King that his affairs
must suffer in the hands of a Minister who had more
confidence in the abilities of his predecessor in office
than in his own, and urged that Walpole should be
restored to power. The King, anxious for the settlement
of his civil list, gave way, and from that day until his
elevation to the Peerage fifteen years later, Walpole
practically governed England.

We read that Walpole and the Queen were the
"ears of the King." The Minister must have acted with
great tact. He had a difficult part to play at Court,
where the presence of the King's mistress was calculated
to embarrass a less skilful courtier who had his power to
maintain by his influence with the Queen ; but Walpole
never made a false step on this delicate ground.

The King's temper was another difficulty. He
would come over from Hanover, sore, as we are told,
at having to leave a new mistress, and nothing in England
would be right. The poor Queen was accused of
"always stuffing herself" because His Majesty saw her
drinking chocolate. Walpole (at first) was a rogue and
a rascal. This man was an ass, that an Irish blockhead,
another a puppy, another an impudent coxcomb. The
faithful Commons were scoundrels, and the Bishops " a
pack of black, canting, hypocritical rascals." It was
Walpole's business, of course, to get these blockheads
and rascals and scoundrels to work together, and the

40 The History of Whitens.

King's attitude towards each was not calculated to help
him.

Then there was the King's vanity to be guarded
against. He grumbled sadly at the life of inaction he
was forced to lead, while his brother of Prussia, whom
he hated, was attracting the attention of Europe.
George, undoubtedly a brave man, was for ever anxious
to distinguish himself in battle, and it required all care
and watchfulness on the part of Walpole, who received
little help from the Queen in this respect, to prevent
England from being dragged into complications on the
continent. We read there was a danger that the Court
of Vienna would flatter George into accepting the com-
mand of the Imperial army on the Rhine. Walpole saw
the danger before the offer was made, and primed the
King with an answer before he set out for Hanover. As
Hervey says, " He tied him so fast to the mast, that he
enjoyed the safety of Ulysses, though he did not, like
him, owe that safety to his own prudence and foresight."

There were other matters than those of state which
Walpole was called upon to decide. There was the
famous "ladder incident," for instance. The King was
in Hanover, when a gardener found a ladder placed
against the window of his new favourite, Madame de
Walmoden. That lady took the bull by the horns, and
posted off in the early morning, to be first with her tale
to the King. It was, said she, a plot of a rival to ruin

WILLIAM PULTENEY, FIRST EARL OF BATH

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB,

By D. Martin, after A. Ramsay.

^i /

The History of White's. 41

her, and she begged George to release her from a posi-
tion which exposed her to such persecution. The King
accepted her version of the story, but seems to have had
misgivings as to whether it was the right one. So in
one of those extraordinary letters to the Queen, letters
fifty and sixty pages long, in which he made Caroline
his confidant in all his doings during his absence, he begs
her to consult " le gros homme " in the matter. " Qui a,"
says the King, " plus d'experience, ma chere Caroline, que
nous dans ces affaires, et moins de prejuge, que moi dans
celle-ci." This reads like a sly joke of George's, for
Walpole in private life was a notorious free liver, but
this and other letters to the Queen of the same character
were written in all seriousness.

This great member of White's Club, on the whole,
used his power well. The times were corrupt, and he
was not above receiving a bribe here or bestowing one
there ; but he was a profound lover of peace, and under
his rule the country prospered and was contented. It is
a touching instance of his influence with the Queen, that
when that royal lady was nearing her end she recom-
mended the King to the care of the Minister — the Minister
whose abilities she had been so quick to recognise when
she ascended the throne with her husband ten years
before.

The name of Walpole naturally suggests that of the
ablest of his rivals. William Pulteney, afterwards Earl

42 The History of White's.

of Bath, was another of the Old Club at White's in 1 736, and
occupied at the Prince's court the position of leader of the
opposition Whigs, who called themselves the " Patriots."
Here he gradually drew into his party all the young men
of the time conspicuous for their ability in politics. With
the increase of the power of his rivals, Walpole felt his
own slipping away. To retain that power, he had con-
sented to a war with Spain, to which his convictions
were totally opposed, and every attack of the patriots, led
by Pulteney, left him weaker than before.

The final scene in the rivalry between these two
members of White's is amusing enough. There was, first,
the debate on the motion for the impeachment of Walpole
in 1 741. Walpole had quoted a verse from Horace.
Pulteney rose and remarked that the right honourable
gentleman's Latin and logic were alike inaccurate.
Walpole denied it, and a bet of a guinea was made across
the floor of the House. The matter was then referred to
the Clerk at the table, a noted scholar, and decided
against the Minister.

The guinea was handed to Pulteney, and is now in
the British Museum, with the following inscription in
that gentleman's handwriting :

"This guinea, I desire, may be kept as an heirloom.
It was won of Sir Robert Walpole in the House of
Commons ; he asserting the verse in Horace to be ' Nulli
pallescere culpae,' whereas I laid the wager of a guinea

The History of White's. 43

that it was ' Nulla pallescere culpa.' I told him that I could
take the money without blush on my side, but believed it
was the only money he ever gave in the House where the
giver and receiver ought not equally to blush. This
guinea, I hope, will prove to my posterity the use of
knowing Latin, and encourage them in their learning."

Walpole, defeated, but still in high favour with the
King, went up to the House of Lords as the Earl of
Orford, but he managed to drag Pulteney after him, in
what he described as his " tumble up stairs." There is a
letter still extant which he wrote to the King, showing
how Pulteney was entrapped.

The Minister here is candour itself Pulteney is
" a troublesome man, whose eloquence had so attracted
the mob, that the most manifest wrong appeared right
when urged by him." George is advised that the only
way of dealing with this enemy is " to destroy his
popularity and ruin the good belief that people have in
him." The King is told, in plain terms, to invite him to
Court, make much of him, leave him to arrange the
Administration to his own liking, and to put his own
friends in office. " There can be no danger in that," says
Sir Robert, "as you can dismiss him when you think
fit."

His Majesty is then to profess a great concern for
the new Minister's health. This must be represented as
too precious to be wasted by the " malevolent tempers "

44 The History of White's.

of the House of Commons ; for the King's sake, as well
as his own, Pulteney must seek the less trying atmosphere
of the House of Lords. " Once there," says the adviser,
"your Majesty can turn your back on him, dismiss him
from his post, and all will be over with him."*

The bait was laid and taken. Pulteney became
Earl of Bath. Horace Walpole says that he discovered
his mistake before taking his seat, and flung down his
patent in a rage on the floor of the house. But it was
too late ; he had already kissed hands on his elevation, and
it must have been a bitter reflection that in the very hour
of the triumph of his party, he himself had been no
match for his old enemy. Walpole openly boasted with
a twist of the hand to imitate the locking of a door, that
he had " turned the key on him," and met Pulteney him-
self with the cheerful remark, that they were now the two
most insignificant men in England.

We have discussed at some length the doings of the
King's Prime Minister. Another member of White's,
George Bubb Dodington, may be said at one time to
have filled that office for the Prince of Wales.
Dodington was probably the best hated man of his
day. He attached himself in turn to every party, and
was trusted by none. Walpole hated him, and with
reason. Dodington had been his supporter, and had

* Quoted in Burke's Extinct Peerage.

WILLIAM, THIRD DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CI.UB.

By John Brooks, after James Worsdale.

The History of White's. 45

found prose inadequate to express his feelings towards
the Minister :

" To share thy adverse fate alone pretend,
In power a servant, out of power a friend."

But when that power had been suspended for a few days,
on the accession of the King, Dodington showed his
friendship by being one of the first to pay court to the
new Minister, Compton.

He then went over to the Prince of Wales. The
Prince's opinion of him may be gathered from a remark
of his : " Dodington is reckoned a clever man, and yet I
have got ;^5,ooo from him, which he will never see
again." We read, too, that Frederick used to play rough
practical jokes on the favourite, and that when the
parting came he changed the locks of the gates in his
garden, to which as a neighbour he had given Dodington
access, and " built and planted " in front of that gentle-
man's private door.

After this we find him opposing the motion for an
increase in the Prince's allowance, later rejoining the
Prince's party ; attacking what he called the infamous
government of Walpole, and giving that statesman an
opportunity of reminding him that he had shared the
infamy for sixteen years. At the Prince's death he
offered himself to the Pelhams, abusing them at the same
time to the Princess. He finally made court to Lord
Bute, in order to obtain a peerage from George III

46 The History of White's.

He was created Baron Melcombe in 1762, and died in
the following year.

Dodington had not the excuse of necessity for his
tergiversation. He was a man of vast wealth, and is
said to have spent ;^i 40,000 on his house at Eastbury,
which one of his successors offered, with two hundred a
year, to anyone who would occupy it. He seems to
have been careful enough in some matters. Walpole
says that the gold and silver lace which adorned
his state bed showed, by the marks of pocket and
button holes, that it was taken from old coats and
breeches.

A very prominent member of the early White's
was Lord Chesterfield, the famous Philip Dormer
Stanhope. He was often at White's, as we learn from
Walpole, " pronouncing witticisms amongst the boys of
quality." The Earl was of the Prince's party, and in
disfavour at St. James's. There are several reasons
given for this. One was that he fell into the mistake
Walpole was so careful to avoid, and offended the Queen
by an injudicious visit he paid to Mrs. Howard, the
King's mistress. He won much money one twelfthnight
at Court, and afraid to carry it home, ran with it to
Mrs. Howard's apartments. The Queen, we read, saw
him trip up the mistress's staircase from " an obscure
window " in the palace, and drew her own conclusions.

This would account for much, but the King

The History of White's. 47

himself had a grievance. The Earl had married
Lady Walsingham, the reputed niece of the Duchess
of Kendal, but the real daughter of that lady by
George I. The Duchess was believed to have benefited
to the extent of ^40,000 under the old King's will. This
will his son George II. had suppressed. He snatched
it up from under the very nose of the astonished
Archbishop, who brought it to read to his Majesty, and
it was never seen again. Lord Chesterfield, as the
husband of the heiress of the Duchess, was, of course,
interested in this will. It was believed, Walpole tells
us, that he began or threatened legal proceedings, and
that the King paid him ;^20,ooo as hush money. Little
wonder then, that he was out of favour at St. James's.

The Earl's brother. Sir William Stanhope, is
another of our first list of members. This gentleman
was also of the Prince's party, but got himself into sad
disgrace by a piece of pleasantry. Lady Archibald
Hamilton had the reputation of being Frederick's
mistress. At one of the Prince's levees. Stanhope,
perhaps a little elevated by wine, greeted every stranger
he met with the remark, " Your servant, Mr. or
Mrs. Hamilton."

Here is another of the Prince's party, the third
Duke of Marlborough, whose sister. Lady Diana
Spencer, was near becoming the Prince's wife.
Frederick, eager to be married after his arrival in

48 The History of White's.

England, had mentioned a wife among other wants to
the King, but without result. He then invoked the aid
of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, widow of the
great John Churchill, who was affectionately remembered
by succeeding generations as " Old Sarah." This lady
had tasted real power in the reign of Queen Anne, and
was nothing loth to see her granddaughter wife of the
Heir Apparent, or for that matter to annoy the King,
whom she was accustomed to speak of as " neighbour
George." She accordingly arranged a marriage
between Frederick and Lady Diana ; the Prince was
to receive ;^ 100,000 from the Duchess, and the day was
fixed for the match to take place at her private lodge in
Windsor Great Park. But Walpole got scent of the
plot, and was just in time to prevent it.

Lady Diana subsequently married the fourth Duke
of Bedford, whose name also appears in our first list of
members. He, like the Duke of Marlborough, was of the
Prince's party, and in connection with the names of
these two young noblemen, Hervey gives us an
interesting picture of the ways of a courtier of
George W. Here is what his lordship says about them
and himself : " These two young Dukes were of good
consideration from their quality and their estates, and
were as much alike in pride and violence of temper,
and in their public conduct, as they were different in
their ways of thinking and acting in private life. The

JOHN, FOURTH DUKE OF BEDFORD.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

After a Picture by G. Garrard.

h44-{ti:^y-:t.'

"■ii^„»'..r-r*

ym^m^

The History of White's. 49

Duke of Marlborough was profuse, and never looked
into his private affairs, and the Duke of Bedford
covetous, and the best economist in the world. This
made Lord Hervey often pay his court to the King
(who hated them both) by saying His Majesty would in
a few years see these two men as inconsiderable as any
in the kingdom, the one from giving nothing, the other
from having nothing to give.

Hervey himself was not a member of White's, but
the family of the Earl of Bristol was represented by a
younger son, the Honourable Thomas Hervey. Some
one described mankind as composed of " men, women and
Herveys," and this gentleman must have had a great
share in earning the family reputation for eccentricity.
He had eloped with the wife of Sir Thomas Hanmer, and
after the lady's death he wrote to Sir Thomas, complaining
about the cutting of timber on an estate in Wales, to the
reversion of which Hervey seems to have been entitled.
Sir Thomas soon closed the correspondence by returning
a letter from Hervey unopened. The latter at once took
the public into his confidence. He published a letter
forty pages long addressed to the baronet, and setting
forth what he was pleased to call his wrongs. In this he
speaks of the lady as " our wife, for in Heaven whose wife
shall she be ? " and adds later, " she was plain, you know."
There are foot notes to the letter. One informs the reader
that a certain passage is " an apostrophe " ; another, that

50 The History of White s.

Jaques, whom he quotes, is " a character in a play by
Shakespeare, 'As You Like It.' "

The conclusion is worth quoting : " I have troubled
you, Sir, and to be sincere with you, I hope I have
troubled you, with a tedious Rhapsody .... What
I have said, as well as what I have done, I can amply
justify ; it is the nature of all innocence to be bold —
injured innocence will be a little impatient, too." " Injured
innocence" in this case, it will be remembered, had run
away with the oppressor's wife.

Here are the Duke of Newcastle and his brother
Henry Pelham, later both Prime Ministers of England.
Pelham, as we learn from Glover's autobiography, " even
when Minister, divided his time to the last between his
office and the club of gamesters at White's." The Duke
was, of course, of the Court party, but no favourite with
the King. George, as Prince of Wales, had been put
under arrest for shaking his fist in the Duke's face, and
calling him a rascal in the King's presence. The occasion
was the christening of the infant Duke of Cumberland,
and the Prince was sore because Newcastle had been
chosen godfather for the child instead of the Duke of
York.

Hervey has much to say of the Duke, very little to
his advantage. The courtier makes great fun of his owl-
like deliberations over trifles, such as the position of a
postscript or the columns in a printer's proof. He was

The History of Whites. 51

not In fact an able man, except perhaps in backstairs
intrigue, but his vast parliamentary and family interest
made him an important personage.

Another member of the Club when our records begin
was the Honourable George Berkeley, son of the second
Earl. This gentleman is remembered cis the husband of
the Countess of Suffolk, the King's discarded mistress.
The marriage, we are told, caused great merriment at
Court. " People wondered," says Hervey, " what induced
Lady Suffolk's prudence to deviate into this unaccountable
piece of folly. Some imagine that it was to persuade the
world that nothing criminal had passed between her and
the King, others that it was to pique the King. If this
was her reason, she succeeded very ill in her design."
His lordship was apparently quite right. Here is what
the King himself says on the subject in another of those
long letters to the Queen :

" J'etois extremement surpris de la disposition que
vous m'avez majide, que ma vielle maitresse a fait de son
corps en manage a ce vieux goutteux George Berkeley,
et je m'en rejouis fort. Je ne voudrais pas faire de tels
presens a mes amis, et quand mes ennemis me volent,
plut ^ Dieu, que ce soit toujours de cette fa9on."

There was a celebrated physician among the members
of White's in 1736, Dr. Nathaniel Broxholme. He
attended the Princess of Wales on that famous journey
from Hampton Court to St. James's, and later was called

52 The History of White's.

into the palace when the Queen lay dying. A contem-
porary and fellow-student says of him : " He was a man of
wit and gaiety, loved poetry, and was a good classic, and
got much money by the Mississippi projects in France."
Walpole, too, remembers him " as a man of as much wit
as ever I knew."

Another famous professional man was Nicholas
Fazackerly, the lawyer who defended the publisher of
" The Craftsman " in the Government prosecution of that
paper. Lord Mansfield said of his conduct of this case :
" He started every objection, and laboured every point,
as if the fate of the empire had been at stake." He
is described as a Jacobite of the cautious type. He
certainly displayed great caution in presenting a twenty-
pound note to the Mayor of Preston, of which borough
he was Member, to be used for " apprenticing the sons of
freemen." People laughed, and wanted to know how
many sons of freemen could be apprenticed for the
money.

Other members of the Old Club, when our records
begin, were the Earl of Cholmondeley, who, we are told,
having been extremely "ill-used by the Prince," was
solaced with a post in the Treasury; the Earl of
Scarborough, an independent nobleman who incurred the
displeasure of the King by refusing to divulge the quarter
from which he had received a lampoon against the
Court ; Sir Paul Methuen, Treasurer of the Household,

The History of White's. 53

" a mixture of Spanish formality and English roughness,"
strongly seasoned with pride, and not untinctured " with
honour ; " Sir William Yonge, Commissioner of the
Treasury, of whom Walpole said, " Nothing but so bad a
character could have kept down his talents, and nothing
but his talents could have kept up his character."

Here, too, are Major-General Churchill, natural son
of the brother of the great Marlborough, a staunch friend
and great admirer of Walpole, who said that the Minister
" could never resist any show of repentance from those
who had treated him with the basest ingratitude ; "
here is Walpole's brother Horatio, afterwards Lord
Walpole of Wolterton, a diplomatist of the first rank under
Sir Robert's Administration. Other names of note are
Thomas Winnington, Lord of the Admiralty, and later
predecessor of the great Pitt in the office of Paymaster,
" one of the first men in England," says Horace Walpole,
" for his parts and public employments ; " Lord Baltimore,
Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince, and employed by
him to break off his connection with Miss Vane on his
approaching marriage with the Princess of Saxe-Gotha ;
Miss Vane's brother, afterwards the first Earl of
Darlington ; Lord Harrington, Secretary of State.

Two other members of White's, who belonged to a
different rank of life, we have already mentioned, CoUey
Cibber and Heidegger. They owed their membership of
a very exclusive club, which included all the fashionable

54 The History of Whitens.

youth of the day, to their abih'ty to minister to its pleasures.
We have seen Heidegger as the organizer of those rather
doubtful entertainments, the Masquerades. Gibber, as a
prominent representative of the theatre, doubtless did the
honours of the green room.

Gibber was vastly proud of his connection with
White's. There is an amusing passage in his Apology
pointing to this. He congratulates himself on the
pleasure he feels on being able to talk wholly about
himself — " a secret liberty I here enjoy for a whole volume
together— a privilege which neither could be allowed me
nor would become me in the company I am generally
admitted to." Gibber was a good deal laughed at for
this weakness. Here is a specimen of a contemporary
lampoon on the subject.

" Don't boast, prythee, Gibber, so much of thy state,
That like Pope thou art blessed with the smiles of the great ;
With both they converse, but for different ends,
And 'tis easy to know their buffoons from their friends."

John James Heidegger was a man of great ability.
He was the son of the Swiss pastor of Zurich, and came
to England, it is said, at the age of near fifty, after a
Bohemian life passed in almost every capital on the
Continent. In England he soon came into prominence.
In 1707 we find him superintending the production of
the airs in the opera of " Thomyris " at Drury Lane ; later.

COLLEY GIBBER, POET LAUREATE.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By G, Van der Gucht, after Vanloo.

The History of White's. 55

in 1 71 3, he appears as manager of the Haymarket.
About this time he co-operated with Handel in the
production of opera for the Royal Academy of Music,
and again in 1728 he was in partnership with the great
musician in an operatic venture, which was not successful
But he was best known as the organizer of the
Masquerade.

Heidegger had an extraordinary personality, and
was reputed the ugliest man of his day. The portrait by
Vanloo and the engraving of the death mask confirm
this. There are several stories about his want of beauty.
The best is undoubtedly founded on fact, and suggested
a subject for Hogarth. Conscious of his "ugly face,
Heidegger was very averse to sit for his portrait. The
Duke of Montagu determined to get a likeness in order
to play a trick upon him at the next masquerade. He
induced the Swiss Count, as he was called, to make one of
a select party, which (very appropriately) met to dine at
the Devil Tavern. The rest of the company, all chosen
for their powers of hard drinking, were in the plot, and
a few hours after dinner Heidegger was carried out of
the room dead drunk. A daughter of Mrs. Salmon, the
waxwork maker, was sent for, and took a mould from the
unconscious man's face, from which she was ordered to
make a cast in wax, and colour it to nature. The King,
who was a party to the joke, was to be present, with the
Countess of Yarmouth, at the next of Heidegger's

56 The History of White's.

masquerades. The Duke, in the meantime, bribed his
valet to get all information as to the clothes the Swiss
was to wear on the occasion, procured a man of
Heidegger's figure, and, with the help of the mask, made
him up into a duplicate Master of the Revels.

When the King arrived with the Countess and was
seated, Heidegger, as was usual, gave the signal to the
musicians in the gallery to play the National Anthem.
As soon, however, as his back was turned, the sham
Heidegger appeared and ordered them to play " Over
the Water to Charlie," the Jacobite song, and the most
insulting and treasonable piece that could have been
chosen to perform in the presence of royalty.

The whole room was at once thrown into confusion.
Heidegger rushed into the gallery, raved, stamped, and
swore, and accused the band of conspiring to ruin him.
The bewildered musicians at once altered the tune to
" God Save the King." Heidegger then left the galler)^
to make some arrangements in one of the smaller rooms.

As soon as he disappeared, the sham Heidegger
again came forward, this time in the middle of the main
room, in front of the gallery, and, imitating Heidegger's
voice, damned the leader of the band for a blockhead,
and asked if he had not told him to play "Over the
Water " a minute before. The bandmaster, thinking
Heidegger mad or drunk, lost his head, and ordered his
men to strike up the Jacobite air a second time.

The History of White's. 57

This was the signal for a confusion worse than
before. There was great excitement and fainting of
women, and the officers of the Guards who were present
were only prevented from kicking Heidegger out of the
house by the Duke of Cumberland, who was in the
secret. Heidegger rushed back to the theatre, and was
met by the Duke of Montagu, who told him that he
had deeply offended the King, and that the best thing he
could do was to go at once to His Majesty and ask
pardon for the behaviour of his men.

Heidegger accordingly approached the King, who,
with the Countess, could barely keep his countenance,
and made an abject apology. He was in the act of
bowing to retire, when he heard his own voice behind
him say, " Indeed, Sire, it was not my fault, but that
devil's in my likeness ! " He turned round, and for the
first time saw his double, staggered, and was speechless.
The Duke now saw that the joke had gone far enough,
and whispered an explanation of the whole affair.
Heidegger recovered himself and the masquerade went
on, but he swore he would never attend another until
"that witch the wax-woman was made to break the
mould and melt down the mask " before his face.
Hogarth's plate, " Heidegger in a rage," was suggested
by this occurrence.*

* Angelo's Reminiscences, 1828, i. 404.

58 The History of White s.

Heidegger, popular with the great people for whom
he catered, and honoured by the visit of the King to his
private house at Barn Elms, lived to a great age. He
bore the reputation of great charity, and died, as the
" London Post " informs us, in 1 749, " immensely
lamented, aged near ninety."

Robert Arthur, the " master of the house," under
whose management the men we have discussed met at
White's, became a man of some note in his own walk of
life. He seems to have been popular with the members
of his time, and admitted to a certain degree of intimacy
with some of them. In the Club Betting Book, there
appear three wagers of his with members of the Club,
all on the subject of his second marriage, and amounting
together to five hundred and fifty guineas. There was a
similar sum at stake between members themselves on
the same event. Arthur was probably associated with
Heidegger in the masquerade business, for the year
after the latter died Horace Walpole mentions, in one
of his letters, that Arthur was superintending the
production of a ridotto. This was in 1750. Ten years
later, when George HI. came to the throne, the same
authority tells us that " Arthur is removed from being
clerk to the wine cellar, a sacrifice to morality." It is
difficult to say exactly what this means. George III.
was of course separated by a generation from George II.,
and the training he received from his mother the Princess

The History of White's. 59

made his ideas of morality altogether different from
those of the old King. It may have been Arthur's
connection with the ridotto that cost him his post when
the young King came to the throne.

Before passing from the first list of the Old Club at
White's that has come down to us, we may note that the
Club did not concern itself with politics. As will have
been gathered from the names of members we have
mentioned, White's was a neutral ground, upon which the
most virulent of political opponents were content to lay
aside their differences. So long as a man's opinions were
untainted with disloyalty to the reigning house, those
opinions, however pronounced, were no bar to his
entrance to the Old Club at White's.

A firm line, however, was drawn against the sup-
porters of the Pretenders. There seems to have been
no professed Jacobite in the list we have discussed.
Fazackerly was notoriously a man who would sacrifice his
Tory principles for office, and become, as Walpole said,
" the staunchest Whig in England." There is, it is true,
a name of a member who may have been concerned in
the troubles of the '45, but if so White's was soon purged
of the taint. The name of a Mr. i Court bears opposite
it in two of the first books the ominous word " hanged."
This mysterious note, after some searching in the records
of the time, remains unexplained.

CHAPTER V.

Slow increase of White's — Early Elections — Stair, Ligonier, Granby, Anson,
Fawkener, Grafton, Burlington, &'c. — Difficulty of entry to White's —
The Young- Club — First elections of the Young Club — Cathcart,
Comvay, Sackville — The Selwyn Group — Selivyns Corresponderue —
Carlisle, Williams, Walpole, (Sr*f. — The origin of the arms of White' s.

We have discussed in the last chapter the names of
some of the members of White's, as we find the Club con-
stituted in the first of the existing books. After 1 736 we
are on firm ground. The roll of White's Club is complete
from October of that year until the present day, and we
are enabled to note the entrance of each of its members
through a period of over one hundred and fifty years.

The early books show that White's was in no hurry
to increase the number of its eighty odd members.
Aristocratic from the first, its prestige as a centre of
fashion had increased, and its members preserved that
prestige by religious blackballing. The vacancies in the
Club were filled up in the most leisurely fashion possible.
We find that elections during the six or seven years
following the opening of the first of our books, averaged
only about half-a-dozen per annum, a number little more
than sufficient to fill the gaps caused by the death-rate.

It is evident, too, that although scrupulous care was

JOHN, SECOND EARL OF STAIR.

FROM AN ENGRAVING AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

By F, Faber, after A. Ramsay.

The History of White's. 6i

used in the selection of candidates for admission, White's
was ever ready to open its doors to men who had
distinguished themselves in the service of their country.
Among the first members whose elections are recorded
are some names of note, which we may notice in passing.

Here is John Dalrymple, the second Earl of Stair,
a name which takes the associations of the Club back to
the Battle of the Boyne, for at fifteen Dalrymple fought
in that famous engagement. These associations are con-
tinued through the wars of Marlborough. Stair was aide-
de-camp to the great General, and took part in most of
the battles of his wonderful campaigns. He brought the
news of the victory at Ramillies to Queen Anne, and
was thanked by both Houses of Parliament at the close
of the war.

Although a distinguished soldier, Stair's militan,'
reputation was eclipsed by the name he gained as a
diplomatist. His father, the first Earl, refused to train
him to the law, because, as he said, the openness of his
son's character would prevent his success as a courtier.
Of Stair's character in private life this estimate seems to
have been just, but as Ambassador to France he was
distinguished, even in an age of intrigue, by the extra-
ordinary nature of his methods and their success.

As he was fond of saying, there were two individuals
at the Embassy, the Earl of Stair and the English
Ambassador. With the Ambassador the end justified

62 The History of White's.

the means. Devoted to the Brunswick Dynasty, he
went over to France determined to foil the plots of the
Pretenders. He would disguise himself and mix with
Jacobites at coffee houses, dextrously extract the opinions
of his brother-ambassadors as to affairs which concerned
England, obligingly lose large sums at cards to ladies of
the Court, in order to learn " that another effort was to
be made in favour of the poor fugitive." He made love
to one Ambassador's lady whom he knew could give him
information he wanted, but to no purpose. Then he lost
money to her ; this, too, was of no use. He tried winning,
and left the lady in his debt to the extent of some
thousands. Rather than ask her miserly husband. Count
Gillenburgh, for the money, the lady gave Stair the
information he sought. He was able to tell the Duke of
Orleans what had taken place at the meeting of his own
Cabinet, and, as the Duke said : " Nothing, though ever
so secretly transacted, could be hid from so prying an
Ambassador, and through poverty one-half of the French
nation have become spies on the other."

His finesse, however. Stair confined to his methods
of getting information. In his personal dealings his
downright speech and bold bearing confounded the
French Court. There are many stories of his address.
One of the best describes his wit and assurance at a
diplomatic dinner in Holland early in his career. De
Ville, the French Plenipotentiary, drank to " My master,

JOHN, FIRST VISCOUNT LIGONIER.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB,

By E. Fisher, after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The History of White's. 63

the rising sun," Baron Reissbach following suit with a
toast to the Empress-Queen, whom he described as the
moon. Dalrymple, who was little over twenty at the time,
rose. " I drink," said he, "to my master (William III.)
Joshua, the son of Nun, who commanded the sun and
moon to stand still."

Another of Marlborough's lieutenants elected to
White's at this time was John, afterwards Earl Ligonier.
At fifteen he had purchased a captaincy in Lord North's
regiment, and was the only captain of that regiment who
came out of the battle of Blenheim alive. He, too, was
present at almost every important engagement in the
Marlborough campaigns, and seems to have borne a
charmed life. It is said that at Malplaquet twenty-two
bullets went through his clothes without wounding him ;
he must have worn a coat with very wide skirts. Ligonier
distinguished himself wherever he fought. Even at
Fontenoy he found time to recommend his wounded to
the care of his opponent Saxe ; at Laffeldt, losing his
horse, he was taken prisoner and introduced to the French
King by the same General as the man " who by one
glorious action has disconcerted all my projects."

Lord Tyrawly, another of Marlborough's captains
and a distinguished soldier, was one of the first members
of White's whose elections are recorded.

White's added another military member to its list
in John Manners, Marquess of Granby. Granby's reck-

64 The History of White's.

less bravery made his services extremely valuable to his
superior officers on more than one occasion, but as a
general and commander-in-chief he was less of a success.
He was very popular, both from his bravery and from the
care he always bestowed on his troops. He gained
much by contrast with the hesitating Sackville, who was
his superior at Minden. After his death even the bitter
Junius acknowledged the fineness of Granby's character
and his extraordinary courage.

The Navy at this time is represented in our list by
the famous Anson, elected in 1744 on his return from
his four years' voyage. He had returned to Portsmouth
with one ship only of the four which had sailed with him
from St. Helen's in 1 740, and with but two hundred men
out of his original company of nearly a thousand. But
he had put on a bold face, and with his one ship captured
the galleon for which he had been watching. In a fog,
he sailed right through the French fleet cruising in the
Channel, and brought his prize with half a million of
treasure to Spithead. The gold, we read, filled thirty-
two wagons, and was paraded in triumph through
London by the crew of the Centurion, with flags flying
and band playing.

Sir Everard Fawkener was one of the few merchants
to whom White's opened its doors. He was a man
of culture, and had the distinction of entertaining the
great Voltaire during his three years' residence in

JOHN, MARQUESS OF GRANBY.

7ROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By J. Watson, after SiR J. Reynolds.

The History of White's. 65

England. It was at Fawkener's house at Wandsworth
that a great part of the tragedy of " Brutus " was written,
and " Zaire " was dedicated to " M. Falkener, English
Merchant." Fawkener afterwards went ambassador to
Constantinople. When old Simon Frazer, Lord Lovat,
was finally hunted down and brought to trial after the
'45, Fawkener, who had met him, was produced as a
witness. Lovat was asked if he wished to cross-examine.
He said he did not, but begged to wish the witness joy
of the young wife he had just married, and opined that
Fawkener's neck was in as much danger as his own.
Fawkener, after retiring from his business as a merchant,
divided the lucrative office of Postmaster with Lord
Leicester.

Francis Fauquier, the able writer on finance, and
Governor of Virginia, was another member of White's.
He saw the danger of that taxing of the colonists which
eventually led to the independence of America, and
warned Chatham against the proposal in a letter written
as early as 1759.

Here is the Duke of Grafton, who, though a grand-
son of Charles H., was a thorough-going supporter of
the Brunswicks, and held the post of Lord Chamberlain.
As an enemy of the favourite Lord Hervey, he was
much disliked by Queen Caroline, who also, it is said,
objected to his attentions to the Princess Amelia. The
Duke seems to have been a man of more ambition than

66 The History of White's.

ability. Proud of his royal blood, he held aspirations which
were never fulfilled. " Sole Minister I am not capable
of being," said he ; " First Minister by G — d I will be."

A member of a different type was Richard Boyle,
Earl of Burlington. He is remembered as the friend of
Pope, and as an amateur in architecture. Critics have
allowed that some of his designs in the style of Palladio
are not without merit ; but he was accustomed to sacrifice
all domestic arrangements to beautiful exteriors. A dor-
mitory at Westminster School is from his designs ; and
he built mansions for Lord Harrington at Petersham, the
Duke of Richmond in Whitehall, and for General Wade
in Cork Street. The latter building, with a fine front as
usual, but no convenience, drew from Lord Chesterfield
the remark, that " as the General could not live in it at
his ease, he had better take a house over against it and
look at it."

A " Mr. Brettingham " in our list must be another
architect — Matthew Brettingham, whose work was much
in vogue during the first half of the seventeenth century.
He was a pupil of Kent, and worked with him on Lord
Leicester's seat at Holkham. Kentdied sixteen years before
the building was finished, and Brettingham got most of
the credit of the designs. He was accused of publishing
an elaborate series of drawings and plans made by Kent
as his own work, but there is nothing to show with what
justice.

The History of White's. 67

We may conclude our notice of this group of early
members of White's by mentioning a name which became
famous in the next generation. Edward Gibbon the elder.
Member for Petersfield, was an opponent of Walpole,
and father of the great historian, who later, also became a
member of the Club.

The addition of these names and others, amounting
altogether to about forty, to the list of the Club, during a
period of seven years, had not increased the original
number of its members, and in 1743 that number was
still well under one hundred.

The Chocolate House in the meantime was flourish-
ing, under the management of Arthur. The Old Club
meeting there shed some of its lustre on the house itself,
and gave additional ^clat to the assemblies of fashionable
youth which daily met in its rooms. The first step
towards becoming a member of the Old Club would be
to be constantly in evidence at the Chocolate House, and
among Arthur's customers were many men of good
birth and social standing, anxious for election into the
exclusive circle of the Old Club, but who found them-
selves debarred by that very exclusiveness for more
years than they could afford to wait.

This led to an important event in the history of
White's. The numbers of the Old Club were not large
enough to include half the aspirants for admission, and
these gentlemen resolved to form themselves into another

68 The History of -White's.

Club, meeting under the same roof as the Old Club,
intimately connected with, and yet quite distinct from,
that society. This new assembly took the title of the
" Young Club at White's."

The Old Club from the first looked on the Young
Club with an indulgent eye ; indeed, the seniors were
good enough to allow their names to appear as honorary
members in the first lists of the junior society. Then, as
time went on, there were additions to the rules of the
Old Club, not important in themselves, but showing
the complimentary feeling which existed between the
two Clubs. Thus, in 1751 "it is ordered, no person be
admitted into this Club from ye 24th of June until ye
30th of October inclusive, but those gentlemen who are
members of the other Club." Again, nearly twenty years
later, a rule of the Old Club provided that every member
in the billiard room at the time supper was declared on
the table was liable for his share of the reckoning, unless
he had supped at the Young Club.

The Young Club formed itself exactly on the lines
of the Old ; its first rules are a verbatim copy of those of
the elder society, with the exception of one, which pro-
vides "that there be a good cook entire to the Club."
We notice, also, that little acts of administration, like the
whipping up of members late with their subscriptions,
originating in the Old Club, were always followed a
month or two later by the executive of the Young Club.

HENRY FOX, FIRST LORD HOLLAND.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

' By McArdeix, after A. Ramsay.

The History of White's. 69

But there was a hard and fast line between the two.
The Young Club soon became a place of probation, in
which men waited for admission to the charmed circle of
the old society. Men were elected members of the Young
Club, and generally put up their names for the Old, but
the time they had to wait varied very much. Rank, even
the most exalted, was not in itself sufficient to gain
admittance to the Old Club at White's ; there was other
influence required. We find, accordingly, that members
of the Young Club, wishing to pass into the Old, met
with very different luck. To take a famous name as an
example, we may look forward some years, and notice
that Charles James Fox appears on the roll of the Young
Club in January, and passes into the Old in December
of the same year — 1770. This, no doubt, was owing to
the influence of his father. Lord Holland, who had long
been a member of Old White's. On the other hand,
George Selwyn, later a shining light of the Old Club,
waited in the Young Club for eight years; and a friend
of his. Lord March, afterwards Duke of Queensberry,
never got in at all. He was rejected as " a foreigner" —
an allusion, perhaps, to his lordship's prolonged stay in
Paris with his friends of the ballet.

This curious division of White's continued only for a
period of about forty years. In 1781 the two Clubs were
merged into the White's which still continues ; but it is
necessary to bear the two institutions in mind in consider-

The History of White's. 71

by the Government by being dismissed from his appoint-
ments for voting against them in the Wilkes matter. It
was on this occasion that Walpole made the very
generous offer to his friend of the chief part of his
fortune, which, with an offer by the Duke of Devonshire
of ;^i,ooo a year until he regained his lost employments,
Conway very honourably refused.

A fellow member of White's with Conway was Lord
George Sackville. The two men were constantly opposed
to each other in Parliament, and Sackville never failed to
discredit Conway as much as possible for his share in the
failure of the expedition against Rochfort with Mordaunt
in 1757. It did not lie in Sackville's mouth to make the
charge ; his own reputation as a soldier was at least
breathed upon, for his conduct when in command of the
cavalry at Minden.

A notable group of members of the Young Club was
that of which George Selwyn was the central figure. It
included the wit " Gilly Williams," Richard Edgecumbe,
the Earl of March, Horace Walpole, and other young
men of fashion and fortune. These men were the
leaders of the fashionable youth of their day, and we are
indebted to the letters they left behind them for much of
the social history of White's during the middle of the
eighteenth century.

George Augustus Selwyn was the son of Colonel
John Selwyn, aide-de-camp to the great Marlborough,

72 The History of Whitens.

and a person of some influence. His wife was Lady of
the Bedchamber to Queen Caroline. George was early
provided with a sinecure office at the Mint, the duties of
which, following the comfortable practice of the day, he
performed by deputy. We first get sight of Selwyn in
1 744, when he was dismissed from Oxford for some
foolish jest made after drinking too much wine. He
came up to London and made his head-quarters at
White's, where all his letters at this time were addressed.
He may have found the Club convenient for advance and
retreat in making his peace with the Colonel, who lived
round the corner in Cleveland Row.

Settled in London, Selwyn quickly made friends on
all sides. He was soon the typical man about town, a
professed wit, and the presumed author of all the good
sayings of his time. Many of Selwyn's jokes have been
preserved by Walpole and others, and it must be
confessed that some of them to-day seem rather ponder-
ous. But the best of jokes lose their point in print, and
fashion in these matters changes. Walpole, in one of his
later letters, declares that even a century ago George's
good sayings were antiquated, and that the youth of
White's laughed at him only from tradition.

There were extraordinary contradictions in the
character of this good-natured, easy-going man of the
world. His love for young children was a passion ;
his love for criminals, executions, tombs and coffins

The History of White's. 73

was hardly less. He would leave an adopted daughter
to whom he was devoted to see the head sewn on a
decapitated corpse ; discuss in the same letter the
infantile disorders of his friends' children, and the last
moments of some criminal at Tyburn. There are
letters showing that he took extraordinary pains to get
a good seat to see the end of the rebel lords on Tower
Hill after the '45. As a connoisseur in such matters
we may be sure Selwyn revelled in the spectacle of
Balmerino delaying the ceremony by his reckless
humour, feeling the edge of the axe, reading the
inscription on his coffin lid, and presenting his wig to
the headsman.

Selwyn never married, and seems to have been
remarkable for his indifference to women. The
romance of his life was his attachment to the little
girl " Mie Mie." It is said that he believed himself
entitled to her paternity ; it is said also, that his friend
Lord March made the same claim. However this
may have been, her mother was undoubtedly an Italian
lady, the Countess Fagniani. George adopted the little
girl as a baby, and the care and education of the child
became a passion with him. How real this was is
evident from the letters of his friends when the parting
came. When the child was claimed by her Italian
relations his dejection was so great that his friends
despaired of his safety. All his acquaintance, from

74 The History of White's.

the rou6 March to his niece Miss Mary Townshend,
wrote imploring him to resign himself to the separation,
and think about his health. It is characteristic of the
man, that one of them, a member of the Club, Anthony
Storer, by way of cheering Selwyn up at this crisis, sent
him a particular account of the execution of the forger,
Dr. Dodd.

After a few years' absence the girl was restored
to the disconsolate Selwyn. She married the third
Marquess of Hertford, and on George's death succeeded
to his fortune of ^33,000. The Duke of Queensberry
left her a much larger sum. The lady lived well on into
modern times, dying at a great age in 1856.

Selwyn was a good correspondent, and the letters
collected half a century ago by Captain Jesse are
valuable to our history, as forming a correspondence
between many members of White's, and containing
much reference to the Club and its doings. Few of
Selwyn's own letters have survived ; he seems to have
persuaded his friends to burn them after reading, but
his correspondents included such opposite and prominent
characters as Horace Walpole, Lord March, Henry Fox,
Lord Carlisle, George Williams, Lord Coventry, and
many others.

From the letters of these it is clear that he was
the trusted friend of each. Lord March, afterwards
Duke of Queensberry, "Old Q.," the "Star of

WILLIAM, FOURTH DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY.

From an Engraving by J. Cook.

The History of White's. 75

Piccadilly," the hero of the tableaux vivants, and half-
a-hundred other disreputable tales, as a young man
was a constant correspondent of Selwyn's. As might
be expected, his letters are of a decidedly wordly nature.
There are mutual accommodations in money matters ;
his lordship, perhaps, has had a bad week at Newmarket.
Later on, it may be, George is feeling the effects of a
heavy night at hazard at White's, and the Earl consoles
and assists him. Then Selwyn will be abroad, and
will get a letter from Lord March begging him to
bring " half-a-dozen pairs of silk stockings for the
Zamperini, of a very small size, with embroidered
clocks. She is but fifteen," adds his lordship, and will
beg at the same time to be remembered to some other
lady of the ballet whom he has discarded, and who is
likely to meet George in Paris.

Other members of White's will be travelling
together. Lord Holland and his son Charles James
Fox, who is already losing rouleaux at foreign gaming
tables under his father's auspices, are making the tour
of Europe. Lord Holland, whose private character
seems to have inspired as much affection as his public
career did animosity, will write, deploring the apostacy
of his friend Rigby. That gentleman contributes to the
collection a rattling letter of his doings at White's, and
at cockfights. Charles Fox, too, writes now and then,

76 The Hislory of Winters.

and promises to steal some relic from Herculaneum for
George, if he cannot come by it honestly. He will try
to get some ancient false dice as an appropriate present
for George to make to the Club.

Perhaps the most pleasant letters in this collection
are those written to Selwyn by the fifth Earl of Carlisle.
There was an extraordinary friendship between these
two men with thirty years' difference in their ages.
Lord Carlisle was not at this time a member of White's ;
later he was one of the chief victims of the gaming
table, and we shall have occasion to resume our
acquaintance with his letters at a later period. But
there are many allusions to the Club in the early part
of his correspondence, and we gather from these and
others how large a place in the lives of these young men
of ton was filled by the Club and its doings.

Lord Carlisle, in his passage across the Alps, tells
Selwyn that he never saw in any company he was ever in,
"not excepting the Club room- at White's — the Temple
of Content," such looks of health and comfort as were
to be seen in the faces of the mountaineers who lived
in snow for half the year. He thinks, too, that foreign
travel would be likely to improve the manners of the
Old Club. " We should then see," says he, " Fanshawe
and Reynolds bowing to one another who should go out
of the room first, each of them with as high a Grec as my

1-1

O
Pd

t— I

w
Q

Q
<

-1

c/)
W
Pd

a
.-I
o
z
>•

Id
OS

■>:
&

2 S

^ o

•a

:<!
<

04
«■

OS
>>

The History of White s. yj

own," and a shocking expression which he mentions as
being much in use at the Club would then be thought,
perhaps, uncivil and vulgar. There is a good deal of
unforced humour in these letters of the young Earl,
as when he writes to say that he has drunk all the wine
on the table in order to keep the gout ofif his tutor's
stomach.

George James Williams, or " Gilly " Williams, was
another of the Young Club who had a great reputation
for wit, and from his letters one thinks the reputation
deserved. Racy and straightforward, if highly seasoned,
they are interesting reading, and refreshing after the
posturing and affectation of Walpole.

Of Walpole himself we need say little here ; his
connection with White's will appear from the ample
extracts we shall have to make from his letters in another
chapter. He was a close friend of Selwyn and his set,
although his tastes were very different. They were accus-
tomed to laugh at " Horry" Walpole and his dilettante
ways. He was once called the " Prince of Cockleshells "
by some Grub Street scribbler, and it was noticed by
his friends that the expression hurt him more than
the refutation of one of his dearest historical theories.
. " Dick " Edgecumbe was the fourth of the famous
out-of-town party which met periodically at Walpole's
villa at Strawberry Hill. Edgecumbe was a man of
small stature, and as such attracted the attention of

78 The History of White's.

George II., who was delighted to find a man smaller than
himself :

"When Edgecumbe spoke, the Prince in sport
Laughed at the merry elf,
Rejoiced to see within his Court
One shorter than himself.
'I'm glad,' cried out the quibbling squire,
' My lowness makes your Highness higher.' "

The members of this party amused themselves one
wet day at Strawberry Hill in designing a coat of arms
for the Clubs at White's. Edgecumbe painted it, and
Walpole had an engraving made of the arms, from which
our illustration is taken. The original painting is still to
be seen at Arthur's Club, to which it has been erroneously
supposed to refer. There is a good copy of the arms,
carved in high relief, at White's.

Walpole gives the blazon in a letter to Montagu :
" Vert (for a card table) ; between three parolis proper, on
a chevron sable, two rouleaux in saltire between two dice,
proper. In a canton sable, a ball (for election), argent.
Supporters, an old Knave of Clubs on the dexter, a young
Knave on the sinister side ; both accoutred proper. Crest,
issuing out of an Earl's coronet (Lord Darlington's), an
arm shaking a dice box, all proper. Motto alluding to
the crest, ' Cogit amor nummi.' The arms encircled with
a claret bottle ticket by way of order."

THE ARMS OF WHITE'S.
As designed at Strawberry Hill, by The Out of Town Party.

CHAPTER VI.

Horace Walpole—His connection with Whites—His Stories of White's—
Extraordinary Wager by a Member— The Club Betting Book— Rigby
and a Typical Night at the Club— Lord Cokes domestic affairs—
The Earthquake at White's— The Traditional Wager at White's—
A Dinner at the Club— The Miss Gunnings— An Apology at
White's— A Blackballing, and the reason of it.

Nothing that happened during the chief part of the
eighteenth century was too great or too small to appear
in one or other of the famous letters of Horace Walpole.
The fate of kings and empires, battles and christening
parties, murders and marriages, the new poem and the
thickness of the paint on a lady's face, are discussed side
by side, and with the same richness of detail.

It was quite in the natural order of things that
White's and its doings should supply the ingenious
Horace with a good part of his gossip. The Club was a
very necessary institution to Walpole in the life that he
chose. His tastes were essentially literary, but he had
a morbid dread of being taken for a literary man. When
his friends congratulated him on one or other of his
literary productions, he made haste to deny the soft im-
peachment. Grub Street and its associations were hateful
to him. A busy gentleman, who devoted to literature

8o The History of White s.

what little time he could snatch from the distractions of
fashion, if they liked, but not a mere literary man. This
attitude was one of the many affectations of the dilettante
" Horry " Walpole, and a punctual appearance among the
fashionable youth at White's, and a plentiful chronicle of
the Club gossip in his letters, helped him in its assumption.

Soon after Walpole 's return from the grand tour, he
tells us that Lord Chesterfield brought three hundred
copies of a French novel by the younger Crebillon, to be
sold at White's. This was " Le Sopha," and it details
the experiences of a young lady of eastern origin who, for
her sins, had been changed into that useful article of
furniture. Walpole himself expatiates on the beauty of
the work — a proof of the vast difference in taste in such
matters between his time and our own. " Le Sopha "
to-day would not be allowed to lie for an hour on any
drawing room table in London.

Then we get an idea of the sporting character of some
members of the Club. " One of the youth at White's,"
says Walpole, " has committed a murder, and intends to
repeat it. He betted ;i^ 1,500 that a man could live
twelve hours under water ; hired a desperate fellow, sunk
him in a ship by way of experiment, and both ship and
man have not appeared since. Another ship and man
are to be tried for their lives, instead of Mr, Blake, the
assassin."

The Club Betting Book does not contain this

HORACE WALPOLE, FOURTH EARL OF ORFORD.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By J. McArdell, after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The History of White's. 8i

particular wager, but there are others of a character quite
as extraordinary, if less criminal. The duration of a man's
life, and the increase of a lady's family, were both favourite
subjects on which to risk large sums of money. The first
bet in the book as it exists to-day, is for a hundred
guineas that the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough
outlives the Dowager Duchess of Cleveland. This, and
half-a-dozen others on the same subject, is dated 1743.
Some members had evidently great faith in the vitality
of Old Sarah. She had been very ill two years before,
and had lain for hours without speaking, but when the
physician said " she must be blistered, or she'll die," the
old lady woke up and replied " I won't be blistered,
and I won't die." She did live until the latter part
of 1744.

We get an interesting peep into the club room at
White's in 1 745, from one of the Selwyn letters. It is
from Richard Rigby, who says : " I am waiting to hear the
rattle of coaches from the House of Commons in order to
dine at White's." The House in those days rose early,
and dinner or supper would be the beginning of the
evening at the Club.

The same letter tells us how the evening was spent :
" I held my resolution of not going to the Ridotto till
past three o'clock, when, finding nobody was willing to
sit any longer but Boone, who was not able, I took the
least of two evils, and so went there rather than to

82 The History of White's.

bed .... The next morning I heard there had
been extreme deep play, and that Harry Furnese went
drunk from White's at six o'clock, having won the dear
memorable sum of one thousand guineas. He won the
chief part of Doneraile and Bob Bertie." Of another
night in the same week he says : " He (a friend) went to
sleep at twelve and I to White's, where I stayed till six."

Here, then, is a typical night at White's in 1 745.
Dinner, say, at seven o'clock, play all night, one man
unable to sit in his chair at three o'clock, a break-up at
six the next morning, and the winner going away drunk
with a thousand guineas.

A little later the Club was prepared with a very
interesting piece of advice to one of its members, who
was in some trouble about his wife. This was Lord Coke,
the son of the Earl of Leicester. Walpole is writing to
his friend Conway, and his lordship is the subject of his
gossip.

" They say," says the letter, " that since he has
been at Sunning Hill with Lady Mary, she has made him
a declaration in form that she hates him, that she always
did, and that she always will. This seems to have been
a very unnecessary notification."

The marriage, in fact, had not been a success. The
lady entered into it unwillingly, and as for Lord Coke,
we learn in a former letter that " he is always drunk, has
lost immense sums at play, and seldom goes home to his

THOMAS, FIRST EARL OF LEICESTER.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By ZiNKS, after Valentine Green.

The History of White's. 83

wife until eight in the morning." We see justice in this
Nemesis of domestic discord overtaking Lord Coke. Of
all the members of White's who so freely recorded their
opinions on the matrimonial affairs of their friends in the
Club Betting Book, none was more unreserved than his
lordship. Indeed, some of his speculations on the subject
are of such a nature as to necessitate their omission from
the printed copy.

Walpole goes on : " However, as you know his part
is to be extremely in love, he is very miserable upon it,
and relating his woes at White's, probably at seven in the
morning, he was advised to put an end to all this history
and to shoot himself, an advice they would not have
given him if he were not insolvent. He has promised to
consider of it." Lord Coke decided not to shoot himself;
he died a natural death in his bed some years later.

Some members of White's were accustomed in those
days to take the air at Richmond from Saturday till
Monday. Writing to his "dear child," Sir Horace Mann, in
1 749, who was then Ambassador at Florence, and later a
member of the Club, Walpole says : " As I passed over the
green I saw Lords Bath and Lonsdale and half-a-dozen
more of White's sauntering at the door of a house they have
taken there, and come to every Saturday and Sunday to
play at Whist. You will naturally ask why they can't
play at whist in London on these two days, as well as on
the other five."

S4 The History of White's.

The next year, 1750, was the year of the earthquake,
which seems to have scared the fashionable world very
considerably. The ridotto arranged by Arthur for the
night following the shock was so thinly attended, that he
tells Walpole he will be obliged to postpone the next
one, as he fears no one will come to it. " Several people
are going out of town," says Horace ; "they say they are
not frightened, but that it is such fine weather. Lord !
one can't help going into the country. "

The shock left White's unmoved. A parson, it seems,
came into the Club in the morning and " heard bets laid
whether it was an earthquake or the blowing-up of
powder mills." The reverend gentleman went away
much scandalized. " I protest," said he, " they are such
an impious set of people, that I believe if the last trumpet
were to sound, they would bet puppet-show against
Judgment."

We find also, that the Right Honourable Richard
Rigby, in company with a Mr. Dick Leveson, having
supped and stayed late at Bedford House, took occasion
to communicate the intelligence to some of the citizens of
London. They knocked at several doors, and, assuming
the voice of the watchmen, cried, " Past four o'clock,
and a dreadful earthquake."

About this time appears the famous wager which
Walpole calls the " good story made on White's." A
man, it was said, dropped dead at the door of the Club,

The History of White's. 85

was carried in, and the members immediately made bets
as to whether he was dead or not, and " when they were
going to bleed him, the wagerers for his death interposed,
and said it would affect the fairness of the bet." This
was probably, as Walpole hints, a bon mot of some wit
occasioned by the notorious gaiety of the youth at
White's.

Here is another instance of their taste for the bizarre.
A highwayman, one McLean, had been taken, a fashion-
able highwayman, we are told, " who had lodgings
in St. James's Street over against White's, and whose
face was as well known as any other gentleman who lives
in that quarter, and perhaps goes on the road, too. I am
almost single," continues Walpole, " in not having been to
see him. Lord Montfort, at the head of half White's,
went the first day. His aunt was crying over him. As
soon as they were withdrawn, she said to him, knowing
they were of White's, ' My dear, what did the lords say to
you — have you ever been concerned with any of them ? '
Was it not admirable, and what a favourable idea people
must have of White's, and what if White's should not
deserve a much better ? "

We get a notion of how some of these gentlemen
were accustomed to dine from the following account of a
dinner at White's at the same period. We still quote
Walpole, writing to Mann : " The dinner was a folly of
seven young men, who bespoke it to the utmost extent of

86 The History of White's.

expense. One article w.-is a tart jnadc of diikt- cherries
from a hot house, and another that they tasted hut one
glass out of each bottle of champagne. The bill of fare
is got into print, and with good people has produced the
apprehension of another earthquake. Your friend
St. Leger was at the head of these luxurious heroes of
fashion."

This was St. Leger's d<ibCit at the Club; he was elected
in 1 75 1. "He is the hero of all fashion," says Walpole;
" I never saw more dashing vivacity and absurdity, with
some flashes of parts." St. Leger had been in trouble over
the ducking of a sharper, and the Judge had interrupted
him as he was about to burst into strong language : " I
see, Sir," said he, " you arc very ready to take an oath."
"Yes, my lord," replied St. Leger, " my father was a
judge."

This dinner, together with the two famous beauties,
the Miss Gunnings, was more talked of, we read, than the
changes in the Mini.stry. The elder of these ladies,
Maria, married a member of White's, the sixth Karl of
Coventry ; her younger si.ster, lilizabelh, was the wife of
two dukes, the sixth of I lamilton and the fifth of Argyll.
The seventh and eighth Dukes of Hamilton, and the sixth
and seventh of Argyll, were her sons, and all subsequently
members of White's.

We find great interest excited at the Club as to
which of the two sisters should first present her husband

GEORGE, SIXTH EARL OF COVENTRY.

From the Paintbg by A, RAM»AV, intb« poMMtioa of iMD Covttnn.

Tlie History of White's. 87

with an heir. There are bets entered in the book on
the subject amounting to ^240, besides sweepstakes, in
which their names appeared with those of other ladies.

Walpole quotes a letter from the old poet laureate,
Colley Gibber, which is pleasant to read from its abundant
good nature. The old man thought himself dying, and
wrote to the Duke of Grafton :

" May it please your Grace,

" I know no nearer way of repaying your favours for
these last twenty years than by recommending the bearer,
Mr. Henry Jones, for the vacant laurel. Lord Chesterfield
will tell you more of him. I don't know the day of my
death, but while I live I shall not cease to be

Your Grace's, &c.,

Colley Gibber."

Walpole asked Lord Chesterfield about Mr. Henry
Jones, and was told a better poet would not take the post,
and a wor.se ought not to have it : an epigrammatic
description of the Laureates and their office in the reign
of George the Second.

We think Walpole's tastes seldom allowed him to be
of the company which amused itself all night at the Club ;
he contented himself with a punctual daily attendance in
the afternoon, and a disappearance at reasonable hours.
We find, from one of his letters in 1752, that he had left
White's in good time, and had gone home to bed round

88 The History of White's.

the corner in Arlington Street. He is undressing, and
hears a cry of " Stop thief," rushes down stairs, and with
the watchmen and chairmen of the neighbourhood at his
heels, captures a burglar in the area of an adjacent house.
He has left George Selwyn at the Club, and knowing that
gentleman's taste (" he loves nothing on earth so well as
a criminal," says the letter, " except the execution of him ")
sends off a message with the news. " It happened very
luckily," says Walpole, "that the drawer who received my
message had lately been robbed himself, and had the
wound fresh in his memory. He stalked up into the Club
room, stopped short, and with a hollow, trembling voice,
said : ' Mr. Selwyn, Mr. Walpole's compliments to you,
and he has got a housebreaker for you.' " Selwyn and the
rest leave their cards, rush out to share in the capture,
and the burglar is marched off by the watch to appear
in due time before Sir Thomas Clarges.

White's, later, saw the end of an incident which
speaks volumes for the manners of good society in the
reign of George II., and for the dignified behaviour of
one of its members in very trying circumstances. This
was the second Earl of Bristol, son of the Lord Hervey
whose memoirs we have quoted. Both father and son
were remarkable for a certain effeminacy in dress and
manner. Pope's malevolence has exhibited this weak-
ness of Lord Hervey in some celebrated lines, and the
same failing in Lord Bristol led Lord Cobham and a

The History of White's. 89

Mr. Nugent to consider him a safe object for an insult of
a very extraordinary nature.

Lord Cobham made a bet of a guinea with Mr.
Nugent that he would spit in Lord Bristol's hat without
his resenting it, and, incredible as it may appear, the
scene he chose for this performance was his own wife's
drawing room. Lord Bristol was leaning over a chair,
talking to some ladies at Lady Cobham's assembly, and
was holding his hat behind him. Cobham came up, spat
into it, and turning to Nugent, asked with a loud laugh
for his guinea. Lord Bristol, taking no notice of Lord
Cobham's profuse apologies, enquired if he had any
further use for his hat, resumed his talk with the ladies,
played a few rubbers of whist as usual, and went
home.

The others considered the matter at an end, but
they were never more mistaken in their lives. They
both waited on the Earl in the morning, but he would
not see them. He sent a message instead, demanding
satisfaction for the insult, and naming time and place.
They answered with submissive apologies, protested that
no insult was intended, but that the incident was the
result of a foolish joke. Lord Bristol replied, that the
insult was so gross and so public, that nothing but a
public apology would satisfy him, and named the club
room at White's as the place where he would receive it.
It was at White's, crowded, as we may be sure, for

90 The History of White's.

the occasion, that these gentlemen duly humbled them-
selves.

In 1 75 1 there were two young men of fashion
arrested in France upon an extraordinary charge. These
were a Mr. Taafe and a Mr. Edward Montagu, son of
the famous Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. They had
invited a Jew to play, and the Jew had lost heavily to
both. Wise in his generation, that gentleman had given
them bills on a house in Paris with which he had no
dealings, and the drafts were duly dishonoured. The
Englishmen then went to his lodgings, ransacked his
bureau, and helped themselves to what they considered the
equivalent of their debt in money and jewels. The Jew
prosecuted them, and they were confined in separate
dungeons of the Grand Chitelet for three months.

The escapade of these two gentlemen was the text
of a sermon on White's by the Speaker, the famous
Onslow. He was moved to rail at the gaming and other
follies that went on at the Club to one of its mem-
bers, our acquaintance Lord Coke. That gentleman
replied : " Sir, all I can say is, they are both members of
the House of Commons, and neither of them of White's."
Mr. Montagu was not, and the Mr. Teiafe, who was a
member of the Club, and in the Speaker's mind at the
time, was probably the father of the young man.

This same year we get an account of a blackballing
at White's, and the reason for it. Politics had much to

The History of White's. 91

do with this ballot : indeed, Walpole speaks of it as " an
odd sort of codicil " to a debate which had just taken
place on a treaty with Saxony, in which the Duke of
Bedford had taken a prominent part in opposition to the
Ministry.

The candidate was a Mr. Richard Vernon, " a very
inoffensive, good-humoured young fellow," says Walpole,
" who lived in the strongest terms of intimacy with all
the fashionable young men." We learn that " before
being initiated into the mysteries of the Old Club, it was
necessary to be well with the ruling powers." The
ruling powers, at this time, were the Duke of Newcastle
and his friends.

Vernon, it seems, had been lately on a visit to the
Duke of Bedford at Woburn. When the night of the
ballot came, he was rejected by six black balls, although
of the twelve persons present, eight, his particular friends,
we are told, had promised him their votes. " This," says
Walpole, " made a great noise. His friends found it
necessary to clear up their faith to him ; ten of the twelve
assured him upon their honour that they had given him
white balls. I fear," he adds, " this will not give you
too favourable an idea of the honour of the young men
of the age."

The difficulty of overcoming the scruples of the Club
at White's led men to propose themselves with diffidence
and hesitation. Here is Gilly Williams, writing to

92 The History of White's.

Selwyn in 1 75 1 as to his own election : " I have desired
Lord Robert Bertie to propose me at White's. Don't
let any member shake his head at me for a wit, for God
knows he may as well reject me for being a giant."
Williams was a man of huge stature, and one would
gather from this passage that he could no more help his
wit than his height. However, he had to wait three
years before entering White's — he was not elected until

1754-

Here is a paragraph from a mock " Gazette," which

Walpole wrote to his friend George Montagu :

" Last night the Hon. and Rev. James Brudenell

was admitted a Doctor of Opium in the ancient university

of White's, being received ad eundem by his Grace the

Revd. Father in Chess the Duke of Devonshire,

president, and the rest of the senior fellows. At the

same time, Lord Robert Bertie and Col. Barrington

were rejected on account of some deficiency of formality

in their testimonials." This, apparently, is a reference

to another blackballing at the Old Club ; Lord Robert

Bertie was elected to the Young Club in 1 744.

Chess appears to have been much in vogue at White's

about this period ; there are several matches arranged in

the Betting Book. For instance, Lord Howe engages " to

play twelve games at chess with Lord Egmont, and bets

Lord Egmont twelve goiineas to six guineas of each

game." We read, too, that M. de Mirepoix, the French

ADMIRAL SIR CHARLES SAUNDERS.

FROM AN KNGHAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By James McArdell, after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The History of Whitens.

Ambassador, sent an invitation to all chess players of
both Clubs to meet him for a game. He spells the word
" clubs " " clamps," it seems, and gives the literary
Walpole an opportunity of exclaiming at the poverty of
an intellect which had learnt but the first two letters of
a word to be heard twenty times a day.

CHAPTER VII.

Gaming at Whites — At Court — Amongst the Lower Classes — Col. Lytteltcyis
Address to the King — Contemporary allusions to White's — " The Polite
Gamester'^ — " The Connoisseur"— The Club Betting Book — Lord
Montfort — Curious Wager — Death of Lord Montfort and Sir John
Bland by suicide — Great members of Whitens — Chatham and his
Government — Clive, Rodney, Sr'c.

Both from internal and external evidence, it is clear
that the reputation for high play which distinguished
White's from the first, reached its zenith during the last
ten years of the reign of George II. Considering the
times, this was but natural ; these were the palmy days
of the dice box, and what Lord Lyttelton called "the
destructive fury, the spirit of play," was dominant at
every assembly, public or private, in London.

The Court itself set the example. We read in the
" Gentleman's Magazine " for January, 1753, that " His
Majesty played at St. James's Palace on twelfth night,
for the benefit of the groom Porter," and that all the
Royal Family were winners. The Duke of Cumberland
pocketed ;i^3,ooo ; the losers were the Duke of Grafton,
Lords Huntingdon, Holdernesse, Ashburnham and
Hertford. One is curious to know how the groom
Porter benefited.

The History of White's. 95

Play was not confined to the Court and the fashion-
able society which met at White's. It was quite as general
at the other end of the social scale. There sharpers
appear to have been so common that it was thought
necessary to insert advertisements like the following in
the public papers : " To prevent the scandalous and
mischievous abuses and cheats in play, it is thought
proper to give public notice of one or two usual practices
of that kind. At piquet, the dealer places the stock
near him, and whilst you are intent upon ordering your
game, lets down eight cards, the five worst uppermost,
and takes up the stock instead of them, and so puts five
bad cards out of his own into yours, taking in the good
ones which belonged to you in stock. Or, a sitter by
looks in your hand, and by giving one, two, three or
four treads upon your adversary's foot under the table,
signifying clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades, gives him
notice what suit he can play."

With its company of young men, with plenty of
money and leisure, White's was naturally not backward
in the prevailing mania. Lord Lyttelton, already men-
tioned, writing to Dr. Doddridge in 1750, congratulates
himself that " the Dryads at Hagley are at present
pretty secure," but he trembles to think " that the
rattling of a dice box at White's may one day or
other shake down all his fine oaks, if his son should
happen to become a member of ' that famous academy.' "

96 The History of White s.

Two years later another Lyttelton — a colonel and a
member of the Club — was responsible for an effusion in
the style of the numerous addresses which George II. was
receiving on his return from Hanover. There is humour
in this fancy portrait of the Club by one of its members :

" The Gamesters' Address to the King.
" Most Righteous Sovereign,

" May it please your Majesty, we, the Lords,
Knights, etc., of the Society of White's, beg leave to
throw ourselves at your Majesty's feet (our honours and
consciences lying under the table and our fortunes being
ever at stake), and congratulate your Majesty's happy
return to these kingdoms, which assembles us together
to the great advantage of some, the ruin of others, and
the unspeakable satisfaction of all, both us, our wives
and children. We beg leave to acknowledge your
Majesty's great goodnes and lenity in allowing us to
break those laws which we ourselves have made, and
you have sanctified and confirmed, while your Majesty
alone religiously observes and regards them. And we
beg leave to assure your Majesty of our most unfeigned
loyalty and attachment to your sacred person, and that
next to the Kings of Diamonds, Clubs, Spades and
Hearts, we love, honour and adore you."

The King was supposed to return the following
answer :

CHARLES, FIRST EARL CAMDEN.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By J. Ogborne, after N. Dance.

The History of White s. 97

" My Lords and Gentlemen,

" I return you thanks for your loyal address, but
while I have such rivals in your affections as you tell me
of, I can neither think it worth preserving or regarding.
I look upon yourselves as a pack of cards, and shall deal
with you accordingly."

As a specimen of contemporary opinion on gaming
at White's, we may here notice a brochure, in dramatic
form, published in 1753. It is anonymous and bears the
following title " The Polite Gamester ; or, the Humours
of Whist : A dramatick satyre as acted every day at
White's and other coffee houses and assemblies."

Such plot as there is in this production centres in a
character called Professor Whiston, representing Hoyle,
who had just published his treatise on the game of Whist.
The other characters include " two common sharpers
under the appearance of gentlemen of fashion," two
pupils of the professor — an exquisite, and a typical young
citizen, ambitious of becoming a member of White's.
There is also a victim of the sharpers, the usual moral
man, and the master of the chocolate house, " Cocoa,"
who evidently represents our old acquaintance Arthur.

As a literary work, the " Polite Gamester " is a very
depressing performance ; its references to the Club,
however, are interesting, and we may give an outline of
the story presented. This is soon done. The common
sharpers are discovered in consultation, and are much

98 The History of White s.

exercised by the publication of the professor's book.
They are afraid it will make good players so common
that their trade will be spoilt. " Thou knowest," says
one to the other, "that we have the honour to be
admitted to the best company .... merely for our

reputation as good whist players. If this d d book

of the professor's answers, we must bid adieu to White's,
George's, Brown's and all the fashionable assemblies
about town." The other consoles him by the production
of a system of signs, by which they may counteract the
influence of the professor's book. " We shall need all the
aids of art to-day at White's," says he ; " deep matches
are talked of; some fortunes will squeak for it I warrant."

In another scene, the beau. Lord Slim, announces
his election to the Club. " Wish me joy, my dear
friends, I'm entered i' faith — not one black ball, by
Jupiter." He is congratulated by another character: " I
rejoice to see your lordship a member of a Club, without
exception, the most elegant one in Europe."

Then there is a scene at White's. There is here
very poor fooling with the professor, who is bantered
about his book. He is told that two of his pupils,
" first-rate players, have been most lavishly beat by a
couple of 'prentices. They came down flap by honours
on them almost every deal." We learn, too, that the
common sharpers have been detected in their pre-
arranged cheating at whist, and kicked out of the place.

The History of White's. 99

The moral man here appears with Cocoa, and begs a
hearing for him. Cocoa relates how he is ready to make
oath that he has seen foul play going at whist, by which a
young man has been " bubbled " out of his fortune, and
asks the advice of the company. There is great indigna-
tion expressed, and finally measures are taken to prevent
the conveyance of the young man's property to the sharpers.

There is a foot note to one of the references to
White's in this play, which is of some value to our
history. It is the last mention of the Chocolate House
which we have been able to find, and runs thus : " In
the Club at White's, being a select company above stairs,
where no person of what rank soever is admitted, without
first being proposed by one of the Club." The process
of nomination and ballot is then accurately described, as
it appears in the first rules of White's, which it is clear
that the writer of the note had seen.

The other information as to White's and its doings
volunteered by the author of the " Polite Gamester " is
of less value. He confuses the Chocolate House with
the Club. Sharpers, though at one time common enough,
no doubt, at the Chocolate House, were never admitted to
the Club ; it is probable that the Club was originally formed
to get rid of these gentry and their practices. Neither
were Professor Whiston and men of his kidney ever seen
at White's. Lastly, there is no record of the slightest
suspicion of foul play at the Club throughout its history.

lOO The History of White's.

There is a much more valuable piece of contem-
porary criticism on doings at White's in a publication of
the same period. The "Connoisseur" for May, 1754,
devotes a number to the discussion of gaming and betting
at the Club. This we may quote fully ; it describes very
accurately the vagaries revealed by the Betting Book :

" A friend of mine, who belongs to the Stamp Office,
acquaints me that the revenue arising from the duty on
cards and dice continues to increase every year, and that it
now brings in near six times more than it did at first.
This will not appear very wonderful, when we consider
that gaming has now become the business rather than
the amusement of our persons of quality ; that their whole
attention is employed in this same article, and that there
are mere concerned about the transactions of the two Clubs
at White's than the proceedings of both Houses of Parlia-
ment. Thus it happens that estates are almost as frequently
made over by whist and hazard as by deeds and settlements,
and the chariots of our nobility may be said (like Count
Basset's in the play) to roll upon the four aces.

" The love of gaming has taken such entire pos-
session of their ideas that it infects their common con-
versation. The management of a dispute was formerly
attempted by reason and argument, but the new way
of adjusting all difference in opinion is by the sword or
the wager, so that the only genteel method of decision is
to risk a thousand pounds, or to take the chance of being

RICHARD GRENVILLE, EARL TEMPLE.

FROM AN ENCRAVINC IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By W. Dickinson, after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The History of White s. loi

run through the body. The strange custom of deciding
everything by wager is so universal that if, in imitation
of Swift, anybody was to publish a specimen of polite
conversation, instead of old sayings and trite repartees,
he would in all probability fill his dialogues with little more
than bet after bet, or now and then a calculation of the
odds.

" White's, the present grand scene of these
transactions, was formerly distinguished for gallantry and
intrigue. During the publication of the ' Tatler,' Sir
Richard Steele thought proper to date all his love news
from that quarter ; it would now be as absurd to pretend
to gather any such intelligence at White's, as to send
to Batson's for a lawyer, or to the Rolls Coffee House for
a man-midwife."

" The gentlemen who now frequent this place profess
a kind of universal scepticism, and as they look upon
everything as dubious, put the issue upon a wager. There
is nothing, however trivial or ridiculous, which is not
capable of producing a bet. Many pounds have been lost
upon the colour of a coach horse, an article in the news,
or a change in the weather. The birth of a child has
brought great advantages to persons not in the least
related to the family, and the breaking-ofif of a marriage
has affected many another's fortunes besides the people
immediately concerned ; but the most extraordinary
part of this fashionable practice is, what in the

I02 The History of Whitens.

gaming dialect is called betting one man against another,
that is, in plain English, wagering which of the two will
live longest. In this way people of the most opposite
characters make up the subject of a bet. A player,
perhaps, is pitted against a duke, an alderman against a
bishop, a pimp with the privy council. There is scarce
one remarkable person upon whose life there are not
many thousand pounds depending, or one person of
quality whose death will not leave several of these kinds
of mortgages upon his estate. The various changes in
the health of one who is the subject of many bets occasion
many serious reflections in those who have ventured
large sums on his life or death. Those who would be
gainers by his decease, upon every slight indisposition
watch all the stages of his illness, and are as impatient
for his death as the undertaker who expects to have the
care of his funeral ; while the other side are very solicitous
about his recovery, send every hour to know how he does,
and take as great care of him as the clergyman's wife
does of her husband, who has no other fortune than his
living.

" I remember a man with the constitution of a porter
upon whose life great odds were laid, but when the
person he was pitted against was expected to die every
week, this man unexpectedly shot himself through the
head, and the knowing ones were taken in.

" Though most of our follies are imported from

WELBORE ELLIS, FIRST LORD MENDIP.

PROM AN KNGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By Whessell, after Gainsijorough.

The History of Whites. 103

France, this has had its rise and progress entirely in
England. In the last illness of Louis XIV., Lord Stair
laid a wager on his death, and we may guess what the
French thought of it, from the manner in which Voltaire
mentions it in his Siecle de Louis XIV. : ' Le roi fut
attaque vers le mileu du mois d'Aout, Le Comte de
Stair, Ambassadeur d'Angleterre, para selon la genie
de sa nation, que le roi ne passeroit pas le mois de
Septembre.' "

A glance at the Club Betting Book shows that this
account is not in the least exaggerated. Not only was
the slightest difference in opinion a sufficient inducement
for members to risk large sums of money, but they seem
to have strained their ingenuity to find subjects for their
wagers. One would have thought that the chances of a
lottery were sufficiently speculative in themselves. But
here " Mr. Jeffreys bets Mr. Reynolds ten guineas that
No. 9999 B proves a better prize than 38894." Then
there will be a sweepstake of 20 guineas " for the highest
raffle in the Dresden China," in which members stake that
sum, not in the raffle itself, but on the chance of drawing
the name of a prize winner in the raffle.

It is hard to see rhyme or reason in the following :
" Lord Coke promises to pay Mr. Fanshawe one hundred
guineas whenever it shall happen that he. Lord Coke,
loses five hundred guineas in one day for value received."
There is more sense in Lord Chesterfield's bet with his

I04 The History of White's.

brother, Sir William Stanhope, made in April, 1751, that
after August of the same year he would never make a
wager of more than a guinea. His lordship had
apparently determined to turn over a new leaf at the
end of the season.

Of wagers on legitimate subjects of sport or athletics
there are very few in this extraordinary record. Sports-
men will be interested to learn that long before the day of
percussion caps Lord Eglinton staked a hundred guineas
that " he finds a man shall kill twenty snipes in three-and-
twenty shots." It is a matter of regret that there is no
record of the result of Lord Eglinton's confidence in his
man with the flint piece. We find too, that Lord
Montfort gets ten to one from five different members,
against his riding thirty, twenty-five, twenty, fifteen, ten
and five miles in six successive days. It is not surprising
to modern ideas that he won his money.

This same Lord Montfort may be taken as a type of
the reckless gamester of this period. The end of his
career, we think, marks the height of the gaming spirit at
White's during the last century. In the few pages of the
early Betting Book that have come down to us, we find
that this gentleman has recorded sixty wagers, amounting
to five thousand five hundred pounds. The events upon
which this sum was depending were almost entirely of
the nature of those which attracted the attention of the
" Connoisseur " — that is, births, marriages, and deaths. On

The History of White's. 105

subjects of sport, such as that we have quoted, Lord
Montfort was content to risk very small sums. He was
apparently possessed by the spirit of the true gambler,
and preferred to risk his fortune, and as it turned out
his life, on the unforeseen.

On the 4th of November, 1754, is entered the
following: "Lord Montfort wagers Sir J no. Bland one
hundred guineas that Mr. Nash outlives Mr. Gibber,"
This refers to two very old men, Colley Gibber the actor,
and Beau Nash, the " King of Bath." Below the entry
in the Betting Book, written in another handwriting, is
the significant note : " Both Lord M. and Sir Jno. Bland
put an end to their own lives before the bet was decided."

The first of these tragedies took place on New
Year's Day of 1755. Lord Montfort's death and the
circumstances of it attracted great attention. He was
considered one of the shrewdest men of his time, and, as
Walpole says, " would have betted any man in England
against himself for self-murder. I knew him but little,
but he was good natured and agreeable, and had the
most compendious understanding I ever knew."

Lord Montfort had come to the end of his fortune.
He had spent vast sums of money, we learn, on his
house at Horse Heath, lived in great extravagance, and
had no doubt lost heavily at hazard at White's, though
this is not stated by Walpole. The final blow seems to
have been the loss of sixteen hundred a year by the

io6 The History of White's.

deaths on the same day of the Earl of Albemarle and
Lord Gage, who presumably paid him annuities during
their lives. After this he became reckless ; indeed,
he deliberately staked his life on the answer he should
receive to an application to the Duke of Newcastle for
a government appointment. He surprised the dilatory
Duke by the eagerness with which he pressed for a
reply to his request for the Governorship of Virginia,
or the Mastership of the Royal hounds. The answer,
when it came, was unfavourable.

Immediately afterwards, Lord Montfort aroused
the suspicions of his friends by enquiries as to the easiest
mode of self-destruction. He allayed these suspicions by
asking the same friends to dine with him for the day
after his death. This unfortunate gentleman spent the
last evening of his life at White's. It was the last day
of the year 1754. He ordered a supper at the Club,
and sat up at whist until one oclock. Lord Robert
Bertie was of the party, and drank to Lord Montfort
a happy new year, when he was seen to pass his hand
across his eyes in a strange manner.

The following morning Lord Montfort sent for a
lawyer and witnesses, and having made a will, asked
if it would hold good even though a man should shoot
himself On being assured that it would, he
requested the lawyer to wait for a minute, stepped
into an adjoining room, and there shot himself.

GEORGE, FIRST LORD ANSON.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB

By J. McArdell, after Sik Joshua Reynolds,

The History of White s. 107

Lord Lincoln's comment on this event was
remarkable : " Well, I am very sorry for poor Lord
Montfort, but it is the part of wise men to make the
best of every misfortune ; I shall now have the best
cook in England." This was said in the hearing of
Lord Anson, and was the occasion of what Walpole
calls a dreadful quarrel between the two noblemen.
Joras, the cook in question, hesitated about making a
new engagement until he knew whether the new
Lord Montfort required his services. Lord Lincoln,
accordingly, was in no hurry in the matter, and when he
at last came to enquire, he found that Joras had already
been engaged by Lord Anson. We learn from Walpole
that there was already some jealousy between these
two gentlemen about their relations with the Duke of
Newcastle, and that it was only their connection with the
Ministry which prevented them from fighting over the cook.

It was in September of the same year that the
second party to this strange wager was overtaken by fate
in the same form. Sir John Bland, of Kippax Park, was
the seventh baronet. His difficulties seem to have
arisen entirely from the sums he had lost at the gaming
table. Walpole says he flirted away his whole fortune
at hazard, and that during a single sitting he had at one
time lost as much as thirty-two thousand pounds, though
he recovered a portion of it before play was ended. Sir
John shot himself on the road from Calais to Paris,

io8 The History of Whitens.

and there were some circumstances connected with
his death in which the name of Mr. Taafe appears.
Walpole speaks of the " execrable villainy " of
Mr. Taafe, but gives no particulars, and the news-
papers of the day announce only that Sir John died
suddenly in France.

Walpole took the occasion of the death of these two
parties to the wager on the life of Gibber, to congratulate
thq old gentleman on looking so well. " Faith, it is
very well that I look at all," replied the laureate.

The death of two of its members by suicide in the
short space of nine months gave White's a greater
notoriety than ever. The good people of the City came
to gaze on the building with awe and wonder. " The
citizens put on their double-channelled pumps," says
Walpole, "and trudge to St. James's Street in expectation
of seeing judgments executed on White's, angels with
flaming swords, and devils flying away with dice boxes,
like the prints in Sadeler's ' Hermits.'"

So far, much of our history has been concerned with
the foibles of members of White's as related in their own
letters and diaries. But, meeting daily at the Club with
these men, were others whose doings are recorded in the
history of their country. It would be superfluous here to
go at all fully into the events in which these great members
of White's took part ; their names and their doings are
national property, and to follow them closely would be to

WILLIAM PITT, FIRST EARL OF CHATHAM.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB,

By R. Houston, after W. Hoare.

The History of Whitens. 109

write the national history. But the time at which we
have arrived is an appropriate one to make mention of
some of the members of White's whose conduct of affairs
shed such lustre on the closing years of the reign of
George II.

Chief of these was the elder Pitt, Lord Chatham,
just now, in 1757, forming the famous Government with
Newcastle which was destined to make the name of
England feared in every quarter of the globe. All
differences were laid aside, and the ministry included the
chief men of all parties. All Chatham's colleagues hailed
from White's. The Duke of Newcastle we have already
seen as an early member of the Old Club. With him
were the brothers-in-law of Chatham, Richard Grenville,
Earl Temple, and Privy Seal, and George Grenville,
Secretary of the Navy, the former a man of restless and
turbulent character, which made him later the evil genius
of the great minister ; the latter laborious and painstaking,
but equally bold and determined. George Grenville will
be remembered as long as history lasts as the author of
the Stamp Act, which led to the loss of the American
Colonies.

Here is John, Duke of Bedford, whose appointment
as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland conciliated the great Whig
faction, or " Bloomsbury gang," as they were called by
their enemies. The Duke, as Macaulay tells us, was a
man of parts, but unfortunate in the choice of his friends,

no The History of White's.

by whom he was apt to be led. Chief of these were two
other prominent members of White's — Richard Rigby, the
Duke's secretary, who is said to have made his interest
by saving his Grace from a horsewhipping on a race-
course ; and Lord Sandwich, " both pleasant boon
companions, dextrous intriguers, and masters of all the
arts of electioneering." To complete the Ministry was
Henry Fox, Chatham's old opponent, quieted now with
the lucrative office of Paymaster.

In this Ministry, as we have said, all parties were
provided for, and there was no opposition left. The
House of Commons contented itself with voting supplies
and discussing small matters of domestic interest, such as
the making of new roads. Chatham as Foreign Minister
and War Secretary was the controlling spirit of the
Government. He left all the arts of bribery and intrigue
to Newcastle, to whom they were a second nature, and
introduced into public life a spotless integrity and a
burning enthusiasm, which before his day were unknown.
These qualities were early recognised by the people,
and made him the popular idol. His restless activity
and daring were so diffused through every department
of the State with which he had to do, that private
soldiers and sailors in action all over the world took
their cue from the great Minister who was directing their
operations at home in England. Chatham's administra-
tion marks what the historian we have quoted calls the

GEORGE, FIRST LORD RODNEY.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUD.

By J. Watson, after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The History of White s. in

double-or-quits period. The English Generals and
Captains were ever prepared to risk any advantage they
had obtained so long as there was something further to be
gained from the enemy. Victory followed victory, and
whenever the French met the English fleets or regiments
they came to look upon defeat as a settled thing, and
were seldom disappointed.

Chatham, like most great administrators, was an
admirable judge of the abilities of his contemporaries. He
was quick to recognise capacity in the two services ; he
ignored seniority altogether, and bestowed his promotions
for merit alone. Among the soldiers and sailors who were
carrying out his schemes in every quarter of the globe were
many members of White's. A prominent one was Admiral
Rodney, at this time opposing the French on their own
coasts, and burning their towns ; later taking a chief share
in the reduction of the West Indies ; later still gaining
the famous victories of St. Dominica and St. Vincent.

An incident in Rodney's later career associates his
name very closely with White's. In 1777 his debts,
arising from contested elections and losses at the gaming
table, necessitated his living abroad. During his
residence in France Lady Rodney came over to London
with a view to procuring assistance by a subscription
among his friends at White's. One could wish that she
had been successful, but as a fact he owed his return to the
liberality of a French nobleman, Marshal de Biron.

112 The History of White's.

\ Here is George Keppel, third Earl of Albemarle,

the distinguished soldier who in 1762 reduced Havannah
after a siege successful in spite of almost incredible
obstacles — a victory, says a contemporary, " equal to
the greatest naval victory by its effect on the enemy's
marine, and in the plunder it equalled the produce of a
national subsidy." Here, too, is Lord Albemarle's brother
Augustus, famous later as Admiral Viscount Keppel.

Another of the many admirals who were members of
White's was Charles Saunders. He it was who
co-operated with Wolfe in that wonderful assault on
Quebec which secured Canada to the English. Here
too, is Admiral Boscawen, who defeated the French off
Lagos, and by his daring gained the creditable nickname
of " Old Dreadnought." It is said that on one occasion
Boscawen swore at his lieutenant for waking him before
engaging with three French ships, which in the darkness
he found alongside his own single vessel.

Another great man, who, although acting indepen-
dently of Chatham and his Government, added mate-
rially to the renown of the British arms, was Robert,
Lord Clive. Clive's genius and bravery were at the
time we are considering adding an immense empire in
India to the possessions of Great Britain. He was
elected to White's a little later, in 1762. In a letter
written from the Club in that year Williams says to Selwyn:
" I wish you could see Lord Clive's face, that is over

AUGUSTUS, VISCOUNT KEPPEL.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By W. Doughty, after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The History of White's. 113

against me while I am writing ; I think it would match your
Shafto partly for beauty." This alludes, perhaps, to the
marks left on the General's face by his exertions under the
burning sun of India. Clive was over on his second visit to
England, and at the height of his fame and prosperity.
The persecution, which on his final return drove him to
death by his own hand, had not yet begun. Another
Anglo-Indian was Lord Pigott, one of the survivors of
the Black Hole of Calcutta, and, later. Governor of
Madras.

There are members of White's, too, associated with
the less glorious period of history which followed the
accession of George III. Chief among these is John Stuart,
Marquess of Bute, the upright but obstinate and narrow-
minded favourite, whose counsels with the young King did
so much to nullify the advantages gained by Chatham's
vigorous foreign policy. We have mentioned George
Grenville and his Stamp Act. Here, too, are the Generals of
the American War of Independence : Burgoyne, whose sur-
render to Gates at Saratoga practically ended the campaign
in favour of the Americans; Sir William Howe, Sir H.
Clinton, and Lord Cornwallis. Unlike Burgoyne, Lord
Cornwallis had an opportunity of retrieving his ill luck in
America by his successful conduct of the Mysore war, and
his subsequent administration of India as Governor-
General.

114

CHAPTER VIII.

General increase of both Clubs — Curious Rules of the Old Club- -Removal
afboth Clubs to present premises — The House and its Tenants — Death
of Arthur — Robert Mackreth — The Cherubim — Mackreth an M.P. —
Allusions to White's as " Arthur's"— " Gilly" Williams and his
gossip— Decrease of Gaming at White's — Macall — Almack's and
Brookes' s — Experiences of Members of White's at those Clubs — March
— Selivyn — Carlisle.

Both Clubs at White's had increased their numbers
during the time through which we have followed them.
The Old Club, which in 1743 contained less than a
hundred members, six years later fixed its numbers at
a hundred and twenty. The rules were not added to or
altered in any way until the same year, when there were
slight changes in the method of election. These
regulations, which enabled the management to deal with
candidates in groups, and make a selection before the
final ballotting, all point to the exclusiveness of the Old
Club, and to the constantly increasing numbers of men
waiting for admission.

For twenty years after 1743 every change in the
rules of the Old Club related entirely to this same subject
of elections. In 1 754 it was decided that " no more than
one member be ballotted for on the same night, and then

GEORGE,. FIRST LORD PIGOT.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By ScAWEN, after Powell.

The History of Whitens. 115

only between the hours of eleven and twelve ; " a year
later, " to prevent any contest between gentlemen who
want to recommend new candidates," it was provided
that the names of such candidates should first be deposited
in the hands of Arthur or Bob. Another rule, enacted a
year or two later, is interesting :

" To prevent those invidious conjectures which
disappointed candidates are apt to make concerning the
respective votes of their electors, or to render at least
such surmises more difficult and doubtful, it is ordered
that every member present at the time of ballotting shall
put in his ball, and any such person or persons as refuse to
comply with it shall pay the supper reckoning of that
night." The " disappointed candidates " would be
members of the Young Club up for election at the Old,
whose murmurs would be likely to reach that assembly.
The fine of paying the supper reckoning for the whole
club seems original.

There was little change in the rules of the Young
Club from the beginning. We find they adopted the plan
of ballotting at eleven at night, but they did not trouble
themselves with the elaborate regulations as to the
admission of members which the Old Club thought
necessary. In 1754 Arthur found that the guinea
payable towards " having a good cook entire to the Club "
was in arrear with a good many of the Young Club. He
therefore sent a circular enclosing a copy of the rule to

ii6 The History of Whitens.

each member in arrear, and requested to know whether
those gentlemen wished still to be considered as belonging
to the Club, in order, as he said, " to the ascertaining of
the precise number of the members." Forty of these did
not reply, and in the following year the Young Club
fixed its members at two hundred and thirty. White's,
therefore, using the term as including both clubs,
consisted in 1755 °^ three hundred and fifty members.

Arthur thus took his census and reviewed his
position preparatory to a change. In 1755 he removed,
with the household gods of both clubs, to the " great
house in St. James's Street," the identical premises in
which White's still flourishes, after an occupation of nearly
a hundred and forty years.

Arthur's prosperity had enabled him to purchase the
freehold of the " great house" from its owner. Sir Whistler
Webster. The " great house " had from the first been
the residence of some person of note. One of its
early occupants was the Countess of Northumberland,
whom Walpole mentions as one of the last to practise the
unmaimed rites of the old Peerage. " When she went
out," says he, " a footman bareheaded walked on each side
of her coach, and a second coach with her women attended
her. I think, too, that Lady Suffolk told me that her
granddaughter-in-law, the Duchess of Somerset, never sat
down before her without her leave to do so."

Henry, second Duke of Beaufort, was owner or

THE GREAT HOUSE IN ST. JAMES'S STREET.
WHITE'S CLUB HOUSE since 1755.

FROM AN OLD PRINT.

The History of White's. \ 1 7

tenant of the house for some years after 1 707, and was
followed, in 17 16, by the Duchess of Newcastle, the
widow of the first Duke of the 1694 creation. Sir
William Windham was another tenant or owner, and was
succeeded, in 1721, by Sir Thomas Webster, the first
Baronet, who was undoubtedly the owner of the place.*
From his son. Sir Whistler, the house passed to Robert
Arthur.

It is in 1755 that Arthur's name last appears in the
Club records. In that year he transferred the manage-
ment of his business to his assistant, " Bob " Mackreth.
Five years later Robert Arthur was gathered to his
fathers ; in June of 1761 the parish register of St. James's,
Westminster, records the burial at St. James's Church, in
Piccadilly, of " Robert Arthur, of St. James's Street,
Gentleman." Arthur's will shows that he died possessed
of considerable property. Besides the freehold of the
" great house," he was owner of other property in the
neighbourhood, and his whole estate, including person-
alty, he left unreservedly to his only daughter, Mary,
then, as the will tells us, engaged to be married to
Robert Mackreth.

Mackreth, who is described in the will as of " St.
James's Street, Vintner," had an extraordinary career.
By his marriage with Mary Arthur, which duly took

* Rate-books of St. James's.

1 1 8 The History of Whites.

place, he became possessed of all the old gentleman's
property, but he was not long at the Club after Arthur's
death. In 1763 he wrote a letter to Selwyn, showing
that in that year the management of White's passed to a
relation of his, who rejoiced in the name of the " Cheru-
bim." This letter, evidently a circular to members of the
Club, is as follows :— „ White's

»SiR, ^P"^ 5th, 1763.

" Having quitted business entirely, and let my house
to the Cherubim, who is my near relation, I humbly beg
leave, after returning you my most grateful thanks for all
favours, to recommend him to your patronage, not
doubting, by the long experience I have had of his
fidelity, that he will strenuously endeavour to oblige.

" I am, Sir,
" Your most dutiful and much obliged
humble servant,
♦ " R. Mackreth."

Mackreth did not at that time part with his busi-
ness. At his death, in 18 19, he was still in possession
of the Club premises, and as " Bob " is spoken of in
certain monetary transactions between members, some
years after the supposed sale of the business, it is clear
that the Cherubim,* and possibly even the Martindales,

* The Cherubim was never on the Rate Books. John Martindale
first appears as a ratepayer for the premises in 1772.

The History of Whitens. 119

who succeeded him, were merely the agents of Mackreth,
still the real owner.

However that may have been, Mackreth was a man
of ambition, and had other fish to fry. We next get
sight of him in 1768. The demagogue Wilkes was a
candidate for Middlesex, and we learn that bets as to his
success " were made a regular stock, and found as
much employment for brokers as ever India business did.
Mackreth," writes Williams to Selwyn, " was in the
Alley, and had several negotiations."

It was a few years later that the quondam waiter at
White's became Member of Parliament for Castle Rising.
There are two accounts of the circumstances to which the
nation was indebted for this addition to the ranks of its
legislators. Lord Russell, in his " Recollections," says :
" A noble lord, who owned several pocket boroughs in
the good old days of Eldon and Perceval, was asked,
by the returning officer, whom he meant to nominate.
Having no eligible candidate at hand, he named a waiter
at White's, one Robert Mackreth ; but as he did not
happen to be sure of the Christian name of his nominee,
the election was declared void. Nothing daunted, his
lordship persisted in his nomination. A fresh election
was therefore held, when the name of the gentleman
having been ascertained, he was returned as a matter of
course, and took his seat at St. Stephen's."

This would make Mackreth 's election an accident,

I20 The History of White' s.

but, as a matter of fact, there was a perfectly good
reason for the noble lord's choice. The noble lord
was the third Earl of Orford, grandson of Sir Robert
Walpole, and nephew of Horace, who succeeded him as
fourth Earl. Lord Orford was elected a member of
White's in 1758, and is remembered chiefly by the abuse
showered upon him by his uncle Horace, also by his sale
of the fine collection of pictures made by Sir Robert at
Houghton to the Empress Catherine of Russia.

This nobleman had borrowed money of Mackreth,
who, after leaving White's, had devoted his talents to
usury, and the seat in Parliament was in reality a sop to
an importunate creditor. There is no doubt of the truth
of this version of the matter. Walpole, writing to Mann
in 1774, mentions some circumstances connected with
the resignation of Mackreth. He congratulates himself
that he is free " from this disgraceful transaction." In a
note he adds : " Robert Mackreth had been a waiter at
White's. Lord Orford having borrowed money of him,
brought him into Parliament for his borough of Castle
Rising, and, to excuse it, pretended that his mother.
Lady Orford, who knew nothing of it, had borrowed the
money."

We will here leave Mr. Mackreth sitting for Castle
Rising ; we shall have occasion to notice his later career
further on.

At White's, under the new management, things

The History of Whitens. 121

seem to have gone on much as usual. We continue to
get glances into the club rooms from the correspondence
of the period. From many of these references to
White's, we learn that at this time the place was more
often than not spoken of as " Arthur's." White's had
become identified with the name of the man who had so
long presided over its management, and the fact claims
notice, because it has been taken as evidence of the
existence at that time of an Arthur's Coffee House, a
presumed parent of the present Arthur's Club.

A short examination of these allusions to Arthur's
clears up the point. In one of the earliest. Lady Hervey,
the "beautiful Molly Lepel " of Lord Chesterfield's
ballad, writing in 1756, says : " Arthur's is the resort of
old and young, courtiers and anti-courtiers, nay, even of
Ministers." Later she hears that " Mr. George Selwyn
has proposed to the Old and New Clubs at Arthur's to
depute him to present the freedom of each Club in a
dice box to the Right Hon. William Pitt and the Right
Hon. William Bilson Legge." From this allusion to the
Old and New Clubs at Arthur's, it is certain that Lady
Hervey was writing of White's. If confirmation were
needed, it appears in a letter of Lord March's,
written ten years later. In this, he says he is going to
ride out, and will finish his letter at White's. The latter
portion of his letter is dated from Arthur's. Walpole,
too, writing to Dr. Ducarel in 1758, mentions the coat

122 The History of White's.

of arms designed at Strawberry Hill as that of " the
two Clubs at Arthur's."

" Gilly " Williams is our chief authority for the
doings at the Clubs at this period. Walpole begins to
fail us ; he is advancing in years, and getting fond of
talking about his gout and the pains in his stomach.
But Williams continues to retail the smallest gossip of
the day from White's.

George the Third's marriage is fixed, ceremonials
are being arranged, and there is a question as to the
precedence of the Irish peers. White's is selected by
Lord Halifax, the Chamberlain, as a convenient place to
make an announcement on the point. We read he stuck
up a paper in the coffee room at Arthur's : " That His
Majesty, not having leisure to determine a point of such
great importance, permits for this time such Irish peers
as shall be at the wedding to walk in the procession."
In the former reign. Lord Hervey had incurred much
odium by his regulations on the same subject, and this
was evidently an attempt to avoid the difficulty. Later
we find that the expected confinement of the Queen
• keeps some of the courtiers in town. " This place is
quite deserted," writes Williams ; " though the Queen's
delivery, which is expected every day, keeps some of the
Court corps at White's."

Lord Digby concludes a marriage with a Miss
Fielding, to the surprise and consternation of his

The History of White's. 123

particular friends. Lord Essex announces the fact at
the Club, and Williams, full of the information, writes
off to Selwyn : " Thousands might have been won in
this house on his lordship not knowing that such a
being existed. He has stole this match on us," he
adds ruefully, "and shut us out of a very comfortable
house, where we had promised ourselves many a cod
and oyster sauce for the winter."

We learn, too, that the " white Cavendishes are for ever
whispering in every corner of White's, and declare their
intention of storming the closet in a few months. Horry
Walpole is violent for the old arrangement, and is for
ever abusing them." This was in 1766, and the " white
Cavendishes " were out of favour at Court. Their head,
the Duke of Devonshire, had a few years before incurred
the wrath of the young King by refusing to support the
favourite, Lord Bute. George erased the Duke's name
with his own hand from the list of the Privy Council, and
the Duke, with much spirit, tore off his gold key of office,
and threw it at the feet of the page who came out to say
the King would not see him.

Then we have Lord Coventry, " opposing and
disputing with every person every night at the Old Club,
to the no small surprise of some new members, who have
had perseverance enough to be duly elected — viz.,
Topham Beauclerk, James Walters, Sir G. Pigott, and

124 The History of White's.

Dick Vernon. On finding them in so good humour,"
says Williams, " I started Lord March, but they swore he
was now a foreigner and rejected him."

Like his rejection on a former occasion, Mr. Vernon's
election to White's attracted some attention. Miss Mary
Townshend writes to Selwyn, " Mr. Vernon is chosen at

last."

In 1763 our old acquaintance Mr. Thomas Hervey
reappears with more letters addressed to the public on
his private affairs. Walpole tells us that " Tom Hervey "
always obliged the town with an amusing letter at a dull
season. His own wife is the subject of this one. The
poor lady is endeavouring to get a copy of it ; she hears
her husband had sent one to Arthur's, and invokes
Selwyn's aid as a member of the Club to get it for her.
It was this same letter which moved Dr. Johnson to
interfere. Hervey had sent the Doctor a fifty-pound
note, instead of leaving it in a legacy, as he had intended,
and in a postscript to the letter enclosing it he said, " I
am about to part with my wife." In his wrath the good
doctor forgot all about the money, and wrote Hervey a
letter of expostulation without mentioning it. Johnson
was under obligations to the Hervey family. Speaking
to Boswell of one of them, he said : " He was a vicious
man, but very kind to me ; if you call a dog Hervey I
shall love him."

The History of White's. 125

Extracts such as we have been quoting from the
letters of Williams and others could be continued to an
indefinite length, but to no purpose. We have given
enough to suggest an outline of the company and the
conversation of W-hite's, a century or more ago, which
may be filled up by the imagination of the reader. Club
life, as represented by White's, had evidently assumed
something of its modern proportions in the reign of
George the Third, and the Club was as much used by its
members and filled as large a part of their daily life as it
does to-day. White's was still the only social club of
importance in London. The Cocoa Tree, though fre-
quented by men of rank, made no pretentions to influence
or exclusiveness as a body ; Boodle's, if founded, was a
new institution, wanting its subsequent prestige ; Arthur's
was not in existence ; Brookes's was only on the point
of being formed.

Whether it was that the influence of the stricter
Court of George the Third began to make itself felt at
White's, or that members themselves had less taste than
formerly for the reckless gaming for which the Club had
gained a reputation, can now only be conjectured. It is
certain that that reputation was declining. Allusions to
high play at the Club grow much less frequent. They
occur occasionally, it is true, and we may quote one of
the latest as a final specimen, both on account of its
humorous character and of the date of its appearance.

126 The History of White's.

" The Foundling Hospital for Wit," published in
1768, contains these lines:

" From hence to White's our virtuous Cato flies,
There sits with countenance erect and wise,
And talks of games and whist and pigtail pies,
Plays all the nights, nor doubts each law to break
Himself unknowingly has helped to make ;
Trembling and anxious stakes his utmost groat,
Peeps o'er his cards, and looks as if he thought.
Next morn disowns the losses of the night.
Because a fool would fain be thought a bite."

They were evidently suggested by the following from
" The Man of Taste," published in 1733 :

" Had I whole counties, I to White's would go,
And set land, woods and rivers on a throw.
And should I meet with an unlucky run,
And at a throw be gloriously undone.
My debts of honour I'd discharge the first,
Let all my lawful creditors be curst.
My title would preserve me from arrest,
And seizing hired horses be a jest."

But the state of things here laughed at belonged
to a passing day at White's. From whatever reason,
it seems that the majority of both Clubs set their faces
against the old orgies of the dice box. Those members
who wished to continue them found another place for
their operations.

In the year 1764, a Scotsman named Macall, supported
by twenty-seven gentlemen of position whose names

The History of White's. 127

formed his first list of members, founded a new club
in Pall Mall. This club was at first called by the
Scotsman's own name, reversed, "Almack's." It was
subsequently taken over by a wine merchant named
Brookes, and still flourishes as Brookes's. Almack's
Club must not be confounded with the famous Assembly
Rooms which were renowned for their fashionable
company for half a century or more. Almack's Assembly
Rooms, later Willis's Rooms, were a separate institution,
founded by Macall a year after the Club, viz., in 1 765.

Almack's Club seems to have been formed for no
other purpose than that of high play. One of its first
rules compelled its members to keep a considerable sum
of gold on the table whilst playing, fifty guineas at one
table, twenty at another. Walpole mentions that the
ordinary stakes were rouleaux of ;i^50 each, and that
there was usually ^10,000 in specie to be seen on the
table. Its original members were nearly all old members
of White's ; and another rule seems to have been framed
expressly for attracting new members from the older
club. It provides that candidature for any other club
than Old White's disqualified a man seeking admission
to Almack's.

Some of the younger members of Almack's formed
themselves into a companionship or brotherhood, with
the queer title of Macaronis. The Macaronis were the
exquisites of the day, and were supposed to be

128 The History of White's.

distinguished by the elegance of their dress and
manners, acquired during the foreign travel which was
one of the conditions of their entrance to the order.

The effect of the establishment of the new Club
was to relieve White's of most of the heavy gaming
formerly carried on within its doors. During the first
year of Almack's, Williams, writing to Selwyn in Paris,
complains of not hearing from him oftener, and supposes
that he will wait " until some d — d odd animal joins
the Macaronis to save me twelve pence postage. Now
I have mentioned the Macaronis," he goes on, " I can
tell you it flourishes much. Drogheda plays immensely
deep, and with as little skill as you do. Bully (Lord
Bolingbroke) was chose last night. Lord Gower went
from White's to his election."

Again, "the Dutchman is at the Almack house every
night. You have no loss, as quinze is everything ; no
hazard. Drogheda is the game bear."

The popularity of Almack's among the members of
White's caused some little rivalry between the two
institutions, or at least between Almack's and the Young
Club. In February of 1765, we learn from Miss Mary
Townshend, writing to Selwyn, that "the Macaronis
have demolished Young White's by admitting almost
the whole Club, and are in danger of being deserted
in their turn by their members being chosen of the
Old Club." The Young Club seems to have resented

77/1? History of Whiiis. 129

this robbery of its members. We find Lord Carlisle
writing to Selwyn, asking him to propose the Marquess
of Kildare at Young White's and Almack's, " but take
care," says he, " that he is not put up first at Almack's,
as that excludes him from White's."

In 1765, the second year of the new club, Rigby
writes to Selwyn : " The Old Club flourishes very much,
and the Young one has been better attended than of late
years, but the deep play has been removed to Almack's,
where you will certainly follow it." Selwyn, Lord
March, Lord Carlisle, Fox, and others of their set, who
had been the pillars of the gaming table at White's for
years, certainly did follow it. Before taking leave of
these gentlemen, we may glance at the experiences of
some of them at the new club.

Here, in 1765, is Lord March writing to Selwyn
that he is " quite broke," and thanking George for
thinking of him in the midst of his own difficulties.
Selwyn himself must have been hard put to at the same
time. Here is a letter he received in July of the same
year :

" Dear Sir,

" I intended to have spoke to you last night, but
had not an opportunity, in regard to the one thousand
pounds you owe me. Your money I relied on, which
has made me lose more than I otherwise should have
done, and which I must pay before I leave town. On

130 The History of Whites.

Monday early I must, at all events, be at Newmarket,
and hope it will be convenient to you to leave the money
for me at White's, either to-morrow or the next day. If
you cannot so soon, I must beg the favour that you will
leave me your note, payable to me, or order, in a fort-
night or three weeks, and I can get it discounted at my
banker's. I should not have mentioned the affair to you,
could I, with convenience to myself, do without it. I
therefore flatter myself that you will excuse this appli-
cation.

" I am,

Yours sincerely,

"I. Shafto."

Lord March and Selwyn were old and seasoned
gamblers, and we may be sure they soon extricated
themselves from the toils. But there was a young
member of White's, and one of their own set, whom,
later, we find in the very depths of despair over his
losses at the hazard table. This was the Earl of Carlisle.

We may trace, in the letters of this young gentle-
man, who was not thirty at the time, the struggle with
the temptations of the gaming table, which beset every
young man of fashion of his day. Lord Carlisle was no
selfish spendthrift. He had a wife and children to
whom he was devoted. The consequences of his folly to
them were ever first in his mind, and, as we shall see, he
found resolution to break away from his infatuation in

FREDERICK HOWARD, FIFTH EARL OF CARLISLE.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By W. Ward, Junr., after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The History of Whitens. 131

time to avert their ruin and his own. He was a promi-
nent member of White's, and his experiences at Almack's
are, perhaps, the best possible illustration of the pro-
ceedings at that institution, and of the change its
establishment wrought in the character of the daily
meetings at White's.

With his letters before us, and knowing what was
to follow, it is almost comic to find him writing to
Selwyn, a man thirty years his senior, warning him
against the dangers of the hazard table. He " trembles
to see the word " in one of George's letters. " I do not
like to hear you talk so much of hazard," he says. " If
you hover round the table, I am afraid Harrington's
crooked fingers will lay hold of you." Hazard was a
shore on which they had both suffered shipwreck ; for
himself, however, the danger is past. He feels more
ambition at Castle Howard "than amongst a set of
people who have none, except Charles, and he seems to
have as much in ruining himself as in any other pursuit."
Charles is the great Charles James Fox. Lord Carlisle
spoke feelingly about Charles. We find, from a letter
of his to that statesman's mother, that the Earl was at
this time security for ^16,000, which Charles had lost
at play.

For a time, Lord Carlisle held his resolution of
keeping away from the dice box, but his letters show
that he is already feeling the effects of his former indiscre-

132 The History of White's.

tions. There is talk of getting two hundred pounds
from " some soft-hearted Christian ; " his lordship wants
no dealings with the Jews. Timber, too, is to be felled,
and there are ominous consultations with stewards and
lawyers as to ways and means. A year passes, it is now
1775. ^"<i there is evident embarrassment; the foreign
valet is to be parted with, house-keeping is to be
restricted. Lord Carlisle is uneasy, we notice, to find
that " Sir Joshua has sent the pictures to Castle Howard.
So well as I remember," says he, " he was one of those
who were to wait. What is to be done, I know not.
I am sure you will agree with me, it is an awkward
circumstance." It certainly was ; still, at Castle Howard
he is safe from the hazard table, and Selwyn is again
admonished as to its dangers.

The following year he is back again in town at
White's and Almack's. " The hazard this evening was
very deep," he writes, speaking of an evening at the
latter ; " Meynell won ;^4,ooo and Pigott ;i^5,ooo, I did
nothing." At present he is holding aloof, and still
anxious about Selwyn. A single month later comes a
letter, which tells its own story :
" My Dear George,

" I have undone myself, and it is to no purpose to
conceal from you my abominable madness and folly,
though the particulars may not be known to the rest of
the world. I never lost so much in five times as

The History of White's. 133

I have done to-night, and am in debt to the house for
the whole. You may be sure that I do not tell you this
with an idea that you can be of the least assistance to
me ; it is a great deal more than your abilities are equal
to. Let me see you, though I shall be ashamed to look
at you, after your goodness to me."

Selwyn endorsed this letter " after the loss of
^10,000."

After this there is remorse and dejection. Lady
Carlisle and her children are for ever in his thoughts; he
will " prevent this man from setting ruin at her like a
bull dog," will accept Government employment anywhere,
" let it tear me, as it will, from everything dear to me
in this country." His family and friends have a right to
call on him for the sacrifice, and he will submit to it with
the resolution of a man. All this, and much more to the
same effect, poured in by every post to the sympathetic
Selwyn. George, in the midst of his solicitude for his
friend, must have smiled when he thought of all those
nice letters about the dangers of hazard. The wit may
have laughed outright when, a couple of months after, he
got a letter to say that another four hundred pounds had
gone the same way : " Brookes was in the list of debts
I made out a creditor for ^100, he is now by my cursed
folly ^500."

This, however, was but a temporary relapse, we
hear no more of losses at cards and dice. There is,

134 The History of White's.

indeed, another letter which tells us that in the early part
of his gambling experiences Lord Carlisle had won

thirteen thousand pounds from a Lord I , of which he

had not received, and did not expect to receive a penny.
But he soon had other matters to think of He became
Treasurer of the Household, and in 1778 went over as
Chief Commissioner " for treating, consulting, and
agreeing upon the means of quieting the divisions sub-
sisting in His Majesty's colonies, plantations and provinces
in North America." In that capacity Lord Carlisle was
challenged by the fire-eating Lafayette, who considered
his country reflected upon in one of the Commissioner's
manifestoes. Lord Carlisle very properly declined to
meet that warrior. " I do and ever shall," wrote he,
" consider myself responsible to my country and King,
and not to any individual, for my public conduct and
language."

The commission, as we know, came to nothing.
There were more differences between George \\\. and
" His Majesty's colonies, plantations, and provinces " than
could be settled by five English gentlemen. Lord
Carlisle returned to England, and the United States
became a nation. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
for a term, and eventually " sobered down into a worthy
peer and good country gentfeman," wrote poems and
dramas, lost a son at Waterloo, and died full of years
in the middle of the reign of George IV.

135

CHAPTER IX.

Changes of Proprietorship — The Cherubim — John Martindale — The Martin-
dale Family — White's under John Martindale — Alterations in Rules
— Fusion of the Old and New Clubs — MackretKs later career — Law-
suit with Mr. Fox Lane — Mackreth Imprisoned — Sir Robert Mack-
reth, Knt. — His Will — Thomas Rumbold, boot boy at White's and
Goverrwr of Madras — Bill of Pains and Penalties — Bargain with
Rigby.

We left the management of the two clubs at White's in
the hands of the mysterious Cherubim, who succeeded his
"near relation," Mackreth, in 1763. This gentleman's
name has been given as Chambers ;* but as the statement
is unaccompanied by authority or reference, we will not
rob him of his pleasing appellation, although a cherub
certainly seems a little out of place at White's.

Nothing seems to be known of the Cherubim except
what appears in Mackreth 's letter (See p. 1 18). He was
at the Club for a few years only, for in 1770 a new name
appears in the books as " The master of the house."
This was John Martindale.

The name of Martindale crops up frequently at the
end of last century. They all seem to have been engaged

Wheatley, " Round about Pall Mall," i., p. 151.

136 The History of White s.

in ministering to the amusements of the upper classes in
one way or another. The management of White's re-
mained in the hands of two of them for over forty years.
John, we find, was a subscriber to the series of the " Racing
Calendar" which began in 1773. We learn from Mr.
Taunton's " Celebrated Racehorses " that another Martin-
dale, of St. James's Street, a saddler, cleared over ;;^ 1,000
by the stud services of his horse Regulus.

Walpole tells a tale of still another of the name —
one Henry Martindale — who kept a public gaming table.
It seems, a Miss Caroline Vernon, yi//i? d'honneur, in 1791
lost ;i^200 at his faro bank, and told him "to mark it up."
He said he preferred a draft on her bankers. The lady
gave him one. In the morning he hurried to Drummond's
to cash it, when the clerk handed it back for him to read :
it ran, " Pay the bearer two hundred blows, well
applied."

In 1797, Henry Martindale was charged at the
police court as the keeper of a common gaming table ;
and three ladies, well known in society — Lady Bucking-
hamshire, Lady E. Luttrell, and Mrs. Sturt — were
summoned with him for playing at his house. Martindale
was fined ;^200, and the ladies ^50 each. Two years
later, the same Martindale applied for a licence for a new
Club, of which the Prince of Wales was announced as a
patron. The licensing magistrates were fluttered at the
connection of this great name with the matter, and

<
X
o

<
h4

■c
o

The History of White s. 137

requested the Judge, Lord Kenyon, to take the affair into
his own hands. Lord Kenyon replied that they must do
their duty fearlessly, ignore the Prince's connection with
the application, and refuse the licence.

The Prince then wrote to Lord Kenyon, asking for
an explanation of his remarks. The Judge replied that,
in doing his duty, he had meant nothing offensive to his
Royal Highness, but that Martindale, " considering what
had passed respecting him judicially, was certainly an
improper person to receive a licence."

We have, however, to follow the management of
White's under John Martindale. One of his first acts
was to write a circular letter to those members of both
Clubs " who had paid no subscriptions for the last five
years." This seems a liberal allowance of credit, but the
letter led to the resignation of many of these gentlemen.
A note opposite Lord Chesterfield's name says :
" In consequence of a letter being sent April 5th, 1770,
his lordship declined being a member any longer, and
concluded his name had been struck out of the list
fourteen or fifteen years before the letter was sent."
Other members who resigned were Mr. RoUinson,
Mr. Boucher, the Duke of Rutland, Lord Berkeley of
Stratton, Lord Holland, and Sir Richard Littleton.

Martindale 's management marks a period of unrest
at both Clubs. Various entries in the records of this
period point to the conclusion that he was not satisfied

138 The History of Whitens.

with what he was making by the business. In 1772 the
subscription of the Old Club was increased to two
guineas. In the same year there is a rule showing that
members were expected to take meals at the Club.
Members who ate, drank, or played in any of the rooms,
and did not partake of the regular supper, were fined five
shillings. In the following year it was enacted that all
members entering the dining room before eight in the
evening were liable for their share of the dinner reckoning,
whether they dined or not.

In 1775, too, we learn that Lord Bessborough, Lord
Ashburnham, Lord Weymouth, Lord Fredk. Cavendish,
and Mr. Douglas, " were chose by the Club a committee
to take the consideration of it into their consideration."
At the recommendation of these gentlemen the Old Club
increased its membership from one hundred and twenty
to one hundred and fifty, and its subscription to ten guineas.
In the same year the Young Club raised its subscription
to five guineas, and added thirty members to its list,
which was now fixed at two hundred and sixty.

We think these alterations in the rules of both Clubs
— rules which had practically remained unchanged since
their original enactment — were concessions to the " Master
of the house." There were probably two reasons for
Martindale's uneasiness. Arthur, beside his income from
the management of the two Clubs, had the profits of the
Chocolate House, open to the public, to depend upon.

WILLIAM, SECOND EARL OF BESSBOROUGH.

FROM A PRINT IN TtlE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB,

By Dun'karton, after J, S. Copley.

The History of Whites. 139

Martindale was without this resource. There is no
mention of White's Chocolate House after the note in
the " Poh'te Gamester," which we quoted in a former
chapter. This was pubh'shed in 1753, and there is httle
doubt that the Chocolate House was extinguished
on the removal of the Clubs to the present building,

in 1755-

A stronger reason for Martindale's dissatisfaction
than the loss of the Chocolate House was probably the
removal of the high play to Brookes's. The profits of the
hazard table, and of the usury connected with it, must have
been a large source of revenue to the " Master of the
House." Besides this, the all-night sittings of the
gamblers no doubt led to much profitable catering of wine
and provisions. Whatever may have been the reason, it
is evident that Martindale remained dissatisfied with his
position. In 1780 another committee was "chose" to
again consider the Club and its situation. Lord Aylesford,
Lord Cadogan and Lord Digby were the chief members
of this committee.

What little these gentlemen recommended pointed in
the same direction — that is, to an increase in payments to
the " Master of the house." Two of their new rules are
very quaint. The committee thought "it would be very
advantageous to the house, as well as agreeable to
members of the Club, if a dinner at twelve shillings a
head were provided every night during the sitting of

140 The History of White s.

Parliament." This, it seems, could be arranged, if a
sufficient number of members would agree to pay
Martindale half-a-guinea a week. A paper, therefore, is
ordered to be " immediately stuck up " for members
agreeing to the proposal to sign, " as soon as convenient."
One would suppose from this that their assent to the
scheme was optional. Not at all. The next rule provides
that " any member who does not subscribe the aforesaid
paper shall pay five shillings forfeit."

This was the last committee that ever sat to regulate
the affairs of the Old Club as such. Eight months after
their recommendation had been adopted, the Old Club
threw open its doors to the junior society which had grown
up under its eye. On the first day of the year 1781a new
book was opened for " The Club at White's," and the thin
but firm barrier which had stood between the Old and
New Clubs for nearly forty years was removed. White's
in 1 78 1 took the form which it still retains.

Before taking final leave of the Old and New Clubs,
we may return for a few moments to the later career of
Mackreth, and glance at the still more extraordinary
career of another servant of the Old Club.

MackrethjWhom we saw Member of Parliament for
Castle Rising, V-PP^s^red in 1786, as defendant in a
remarkable lawsuit. The plaintiff, Mr. Fox Lane, was
a young man of good birth, and later a member of the
Club. This gentleman appears to have gone to

The History of White s. 141

Mackreth for a loan ; high play and extravagant living
had probably left him in embarrassment, like most of
his contemporaries. Mr. Fox Lane pleaded that in the
course of their transactions Mackreth had defrauded him
of his patrimony, worth ;[^ 1,300 a year, he being still a
minor. After a trial, which lasted seven days, the
Master of the Rolls took the plaintiff's view of the
matter. The Court found that Mackreth had taken
undue advantage of the young man during his minority,
ordered him to refund the value of the estate, with five
per cent, interest, and to pay the costs of the suit. These
payments together amounted to ;^20,ooo.

Mackreth appealed. The Lord Chancellor confirmed
the decision of the Court below. He then took the cause
to the House of Lords, but with no better success. The
Peers supported the previous decisions, and, on the
motion of Lord Loughborough, imposed the highest costs
ever given in a similar case.

The counsel who had represented Mr. Fox Lane in
all these proceedings was Sir John Scott, afterwards the
famous Lord Eldon. Mackreth long bore him a grudge,
as the instrument which had opened his ill-gotten money-
bags. He met Sir John, it seems, in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, six years after the first suit had been begun, and.
as the report says, " accosted him with a degree of
vehemence, called him a liar and a scoundrel, and
threatened to insist upon it everywhere, and proclaim

142 The History of White's.

it in all places."* He ended by challenging Sir John
to mortal combat.

Sir John naturally declined that honour, and invoked
the aid of the law. Mackreth was sentenced to six
weeks' imprisonment and a fine of ;^iC)0, for a breach of
the King's peace. " The truth is," said Sir John, "three
Courts thought his conduct so bad that they made him
pay a young man, of whom they declared he had taken
undue advantage, about ;i^i 7,000 and all costs, and the
fellow is fool enough to think he can retrieve his
character by insulting me."

Mackreth was at this time the sitting Member of
Parliament for Ashburton. But notwithstanding his
misfortunes in the law and police courts, he was
destined for further honour. In 1794, two years only
after his imprisonment, he was knighted by George III.

Sir Robert Mackreth lived well on into the present
century— he died in 18 19, at the age of ninety-four. His
will is evidence of a very successful career. Besides the
freehold of the present club building, which came to him
by his marriage with Mary Arthur, there is mentioned
much other real property. There are houses on Snow
Hill, a landed estate in Cumberland, and a slave estate
in the West Indies. Nearly the whole of this passed to a

* The King v. Mackreth, reported in "Sporting Magazine," i. 336.
Annual Register, 1793.

SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD, FIRST BARONET.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

The History of White's. 143

nephew, on condition of his assuming the testator's
patronymic within a twelvemonth.

We may conclude our notice of the old Knight's
career by quoting the opening paragraph of his will :

" This is the last will and testament of me, Sir
Robert Mackreth, of Ewhurst, in the County of
Southampton, nor will I make it as worldlings do, by
leaving any sum of more to him that hath too much, but,
on the contrary, will and bequeath the fortune I shall
leave behind me to those who I most sincerely hope will
derive happiness from it, with all the blessings and
comforts of life which it can possibly afford them. When,
therefore, it shall please Almighty God to call me to that
State from whose bourne no traveller returns, I shall
have a full confidence in His mercy, and, conscious that I
have endeavoured to act the honest and upright part
through life, I am encouraged to hope that I shall obtain
a blessed eternity."

In this pious hope even Sir John Scott and Mr. Fox
Lane could have had no objection to join.

In the early days of Arthur's reign at the Old Club,
Mackreth, as majordomo of the proprietor, engaged as
boot black* a boy named Thomas Rumbold. He was a

* Mrs. Thrale, in a note in Wraxall's Hist. Mem., Vol. II., p. 252,
speaking of Rumbold's personal appearance, says : "So he was, and
what is much more surprising, he had the air and look of a man of quality.
Very strange, surely, in a black-shoe boy, for such he was at starting."

144 The History of Whites.

lad of spirit, and after a short term among the knives
and boots at White's, left England to seek his fortune in
India. In 1756 he was a clerk in the East India Com-
pany's offices at Calcutta. They were stirring times in
India, and Rumbold, like Clive and other civilians before
him, volunteered for military service.

As a soldier he at once attracted notice ; on one
occasion, in particular, he conveyed despatches in circum-
stances of great danger, and was publicly thanked by the
Company. He returned to his civil employment, and
speedily rose in the service. In 1766 we find him taking
his seat as a member of the Council of Bengal. This
appointment was much resented by other servants of the
Company, who considered themselves superseded, and
Rumbold was the object of much interested malevolence.
Clive, to whom Rumbold had acted as aide-de-camp at
Plassey, took the occasion to mention his name in des-
patches as a man whose services to the Company entitled
him to protection from all indignity of the sort. He was
almost immediately promoted to the Governorship of
Patna, and made such good use of his time there, that he
returned to England, in 1770, with a large fortune. He
was made a baronet, and finally succeeded Lord Pigot as
Governor of Madras, in 1772. In 1781 he again returned
to England with an enormous fortune, as the result of a
comparatively short career in India.*

* "European Magazine," 1782.

ROBERT, FIRST LORD CLIVE.

FKOM AN ENGRAVING AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

By Bartolozzi, after N. Dance.

The History of Whitens. 145

The administration of Indian affairs was at this time
attracting general attention in England, and a Secret
Committee of the House of Commons was sitting to
examine into the matter. The Chairman of this Com-
mittee was Henry Dundas, and in the report which was
adopted by the House, Warren Hastings, Impey, Rum-
bold and others were accused of serious maladministration
in India.

Rumbold's vast fortune seems to have attracted
especial attention. He was forbidden to leave the coun-
try or to convey his property during the proceedings, and
a Bill of Pains and Penalties against him was introduced
by Dundas, as Chairman of the Secret Committee.

On his return to England, Rumbold had entered
Parliament as Member for Shaftesbury ; he had also pro-
cured a seat for his son, William Robert Rumbold, who
was a member of White's in 178 1. At the House of
Commons Rumbold came in contact with the men who
were hunting him down, and began to cast about among
the friends of these men for help in his extremity. He
soon found that help in Richard Rigby.

This gentleman had lately lost the very lucrative
office of Paymaster-General, and had been succeeded in it
by Edmund Burke. Rigby found himself called upon by
that statesman to refund large sums which he had left
unaccounted for on his quitting office. Rigby was a
man of reckless extravagance, and all the vast emolu-

146 The History of White's.

ments of the Pay Office had been squandered as soon as
earned. He was as much at his wits' end to know where
to turn for money to avoid ruin, as was Rumbold to know
how to keep the wealth he had got. The two struck a
bargain. Rumbold undertook to find the money to save
Rigby from impeachment ; Rigby, in return, engaged to
procure the stoppage of the Bill of Pains and Penalties
against Rumbold.

There was never any proof of this bargain brought
to light, but it was an open secret at the time. Rigby
was the intimate friend of Dundas, and spoke openly
against the Bill in the House. Then Dundas began to
complain that he could never keep a House for its discus-
sion. The restrictions against Rumbold 's dealing with
his property were first withdrawn, and, after the end
of 1783, nothing further was heard of the Bill. The
alliance between the two friends was confirmed by the
marriage of Rigby's nephew and heir to Rumbold's
daughter.*

The boot-black boy at White's ended his career as
a baronet of large wealth, and the founder of a family. He
died in 1791, and having survived his eldest son, the
baronetcy passed to the second son, George. The chief
part of his fortune was divided amongst the children of a
second marriage.

* Wraxall's Hist. Mem., III., pp. 77, 193 et seq. ; 449 et seq.

t— 1

;:li

■Z

H-<

-J
o

pa
S

t— 1

{fl

!?;

t-H

C/3

^ o

The History of White s. 147

The remarkable careers of these two servants at
White's attracted a good deal of attention. They both
came into prominence about the same time, and sat
together in the House of Commons. The witty lawyer,
Joseph Jekyll, in a letter written thirty years afterwards,
speaks of having sat in the same Parliament with two
waiters from a coffee house. With a squib which appeared
at the time of the Bill of Pains and Penalties, we may
take final leave of these worthies : —

" When Bob M**k***th, with upper servant's pride,
' Here, Sirrah, clean my boots,' to R * mb * ♦ d cried,

He humbly answered, ' Yea, Bob ' ;
But since returned from India's plunder'd strand.
The purse-proud R * mb * * d now, on such command,

Would stoutly answer, 'Nay, Bob '. " *

Elegant Extracts, 1816, p. 877.

148

CHAPTER X.

Parliament and the Clubs — White's a Political Club for the first time —
Wm. Pitt at White's — His rivalry with Fox — The Prince of Wales —
Dissensions at Court — Mrs. Fitzherbert — The Kin^s illness — Ball at
White's to celebrate his recovery — The Prince's Action — Ball at
Brookes' s — Duel between the Duke of York and Col. Lennox — The
Chevalier St. George — Record of his visit to White's.

Upon the fusion of the Old and New Clubs in 1781,
White's limited its numbers to three hundred, and drew
up a set of rules, which were practically a copy of those
of the Old Club. The subscription continued at ten
guineas, elections were still open to every member of the
Club, and one black ball was an exclusion to a candidate
as formerly.

It was in this same year that doings at the St.
James's Street Clubs attracted the notice of Parliament.
Mansfield had brought in a Bill for the prevention of
Sunday abuses, and an independent member, Mr. Martin,
of Tewkesbury, expressed his astonishment " that the
gaming houses, which were open every Sunday in the
immediate vicinity of St. James's Palace, had not
attracted the attention of the learned framer of the Bill."
Martin's speech was ignored. At a subsequent stage he
returned to the charge. He called on the Solicitor-

THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES JAMES FOX.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OP THE CLUB.

By S. W. Reynolds, after J. R. Smith.

The History of White's. 149

General to answer " why those abominable nurseries of
gambling in St. James's Street were not suppressed.
They are," said he, " the bane of our young men of rank,
who, becoming first necessitous, lie open to the seductions
of a Minister whose pernicious measures are only sus-
tained by corruption."

Fox, who had been pointedly alluded to during the
debate, sat silent. Sheridan came to his assistance. It
was one of his first appearances in the House, and he
displayed great address on behalf of his friend. Unwilling
to offend Martin, who was useful to the Opposition,
Sheridan ran full tilt at the Government. " I trust,"
said he, " that the learned gentleman who presents
himself to the House on this day, in the double capacity
of a Cato and a Petronius, at once the censor morum and
the arbiter elegantiarum of the age, will turn his attention
towards the suppression of a species of gaming more
destructive to the morals than any other, and which is
nevertheless patronised by the Legislature — I mean
lotteries, which, by suspending all the pursuits of
industry, introduced among the lower orders of people
every species of depravity. This would, indeed, be an
object worthy of his attention." It is not surprising to learn
that at this home-thrust the " debate took a new turn."

Wraxall says : " Unquestionably the Club at White's,
as well as at Brookes's, was designated by Martin when
he denounced the evil, as he spoke in the plural number. "

150 The History of White's.

White's may have been in Martin's mind, but at this
time gaming at the Club was of a comparatively
harmless character. Whist, piquet and quinze were still
played there for sufficiently high stakes, but the hazard
and faro, at which men beggared themselves at a sitting,
and of which Charles Fox was so eminent an exponent,
were played chiefly at Brookes's and the Cocoa Tree.

From the list of members of White's in 1 781, we
gather that the Club still preserved its character for
neutrality in politics. Politics, as we have seen, had all
along an influence in the election of individual candidates,
the rules of a club which invited each of its members
to record his secret opinion as to the desirability of
admitting a single individual, rendered this inevitable.
But the cases in which politics operated were few and far
between. Political animosity was strong enough during
Lord North's administration, and there was ample
opportunity for an Opposition which included such
masters of invective as Burke and Fox, to make each
of its members hateful to the party in power. But
the social character of the meetings at White's was
as yet undisturbed by the animosities of the House
of Commons. The Club which had formed a neutral
ground for such opponents as Walpole and Pulteney,
Chatham and Holland, still opened its doors to the chief
men of both parties. Lord North himself, and most
of his Ministers, were members, as were also Dundas,

THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM PITT.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By G. Cunt, after Hoppner.

The History of Whites. 151

Lord Sandwich, Jenkinson, Lord George Germain,
Lord Loughborough, and others. The Opposition was
represented by Fox, Shelburne, the Duke of Richmond,
Burgoyne, Keppel, Lord J. Cavendish and Lord Camden.

But events were approaching which were destined to
give a very decided political character to White's, for the
first time in its history. William Pitt was about to enter
public life, and to begin his long and successful rivalry with
Charles James Fox. By his election at White's, and his
use of the Club as a place of meeting with his supporters,
he identified it with the fortunes of himself and his party.

When Pitt made his maiden speech in support of
Burke's Bill to reduce the King's Civil List, he was
hailed by the Opposition as a powerful ally. Burke
at once proclaimed him, " not merely a chip of the old
block, but the old block itself." Fox took him off in
triumph to Brookes's, and at once secured his election
to that club. Of his reception there Wraxall says :
" Though of the most flattering description, he was not
dazzled by it. Fox himself soon perceived the coldness
of this new ally, for whom play had no attractions, and
who beheld a faro bank without emotion. It is a fact
that Pitt remained during several years a member of
Brookes's, but he rarely, if ever, appeared there after he
came into office."

Pitt, as we know, soon disassociated himself from
Fox and the Whigs. A few months before he took

152 The History of White's.

office as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was elected a
member of White's. His entrance to the Club was the
signal for the secession of Fox and many of his friends.
Fox, who, as one of the chief gamesters of his day, had
from the first been a frequenter of Brookes's, now
surrounded himself there with the chiefs of the
Opposition. White's, as the club of Pitt, the King's Prime
Minister, became identified with the Court. When party
feeling began to run high, as it soon did, White's and
Brookes's were the head-quarters of the rival factions,
and it would seem that outside mobs took their orders
from at least one of them. In February of 1784, only
six months after his election to White's, Pitt, returning
from a City banquet, was hustled by a mob waiting out-
side Brookes's, and escaped with difficulty into White's
over the way :

" See the sad sequel of the Grocers' treat,
Behold him darting up St. James's Street,
Pelted and scared by Brookes's hellish sprites,
And vainly fluttering round the door of White's.*

The rivalry between Pitt and Fox, and the parties
they led, was intensified by the entry into public life of
the Prince of Wales. From the first, the Prince chose
Fox as his adviser in his opposition to the King and the
Court. Though later a member of White's, the part he

* Rolliad, 1785, ii., 125.

ROBERT BANKS, SECOND EARL OF LIVERPOOL.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By Jno. Young, after Sir T. Lawrence.

The History of Whites. 153

played at this time, as the puppet of the Opposition,
controlled by Fox, finally determined the strong political
colour of the two Clubs. The numerous schemes of the
bolder spirits of the Opposition, which had for their
object the playing of the Heir Apparent against the
Crown, all originated in the counsels of the Whigs at
Brookes's, The resistance of these schemes by Pitt and
his colleagues at White's identified the Club more closely
than ever with the Ministry and the Court party. The full
effect of the Prince's affairs on White's will, we think,
be apparent from the short examination of his early
doings which we propose to make.

In the dissensions between George III. and his son
we see the family history of the Brunswicks repeating
itself in a remarkable manner. In both cases the
mothers of the princes did nothing to soften the
animosity between father and son ; in both cases the
Prince of Wales became the hope of the Parliamentary
Opposition. Indeed, the strong family likeness between
the Court quarrels of the two periods has led one
historian of the later one to gravely quote a letter
written by George II. to Frederick, as having been
received by George, Prince of Wales, from his father.
King George III.*

* Life and Times of Lord Brougham, 1871, ii. 155. This letter,
given at length by Lord Brougham, is obviously a paraphrase of that
written by George IL to the Prince of Wales after his sudden removal

154 The History of Whites.

Though it seems impossible to find excuse for the
Prince's conduct throughout the matter, at the very
beginning, at leaist, he was not solely to blame. George
III., careful of his income, kept his son in leading strings
too long. At nineteen, we read, he was not allowed to
go out alone, or to attend balls or parties. When, a
year or two later, the King felt constrained to give him
a separate establishment, it was under his own eye, and
in a wing of his own palace. The Prince, naturally
enough, resented this treatment. He was accustomed
to break out with his brother of York, after the rest
of the royal family had retired for the night, and shed
the light of his countenance on masquerades, taverns
and dog-fights.

The noise of the Princes' doings soon filled the
town, and was gall and wormwood to the straitlaced
King. The King, too, was soon touched in a tender
place, by having to pay ;^5,ooo for some of his son's
letters, written to a designing actress, Mrs. Robinson,
who threatened to publish them. The breach rapidly
widened. The Prince, like his grandfather Frederick,
lost no opportunity of opposing the King. He made a
point of taking sides against the Court in every petty

of the Princess from Hampton Court to St. James's, just before the
birth of the Duchess of Brunswick. See Lord Hervey's Memoirs,
ed. 1884, iii. 232.

HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE IV., AS PRINCE OF WALES.

FROM AN EKGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OP THE CLUB.

By J. Raphael Smith, after Gainsborough

The History of Whitens. 155

quarrel that occurred, and added to all the enormity of
choosing for his bosom friend Charles James Fox, whom
the King hated as his bitterest enemy.

The Prince's letters show the closeness of the con-
nection : " I shall rejoice not a little if I see you in office
again, as I look upon it as the most fortunate event
which can happen to us all. With respect to your
friendly kindness to me, I shall ever be happy to
acknowledge it with the gratitude it so justly deserves."
" I am waiting for you at your own house ; pray come
directly, if you can." Thus writes the heir apparent to
the throne to the favourite, but the friendship was about
to receive a severe shock.

The Prince had fallen madly in love with a Mrs.
Fitzherbert, a widow of some fortune and of irreproach-
able character. This lady did all she could to avoid his
attentions, and refused to listen to his overtures. She
suddenly received a message that the Prince had stabbed
himself, and that her presence at Carlton House was
necessary to save his life. After much resistance she
consented to go, on condition that she was accompanied
by a lady of known position and high character. The
Duchess of Devonshire volunteered, and the two ladies
were conducted to the bedside of the Prince. Here they
found him covered with what may have been his own
blood. He consented to live only on condition that
Mrs. Fitzherbert became his wife. By way of betroth-

156 The History of White's.

merit, a ring was taken from the finger of the Duchess
and placed upon that of Mrs. Fitzherbert.

Distracted at these proceedings, and frightened at
what she had done, the poor lady fled to Holland. But
there she was as much persecuted as ever ; every ship
brought a courier from the disconsolate Prince. We get
a picture of the royal lover at this period from Lord
Holland. He was accustomed to go for comfort to
Mrs. Armisted, who afterwards married Charles Fox.
In that lady's drawing-room, as we are told, he would
fall into hysterics, cry by the hour, pull his hair out in
handfuls and roll on the floor.*

Fox had been the Prince's confidant in all this, up
to a certain point. His advice had been sound, if cynical.
The Prince was told that he might form any connection
with the lady, save one of marriage. But now, unknown
to Fox, Mrs. Fitzherbert, wearied by the Prince's impor-
tunities, had consented to return to England, on the
promise that he would go through such a form of marriage
as would satisfy her conscience.

Fox heard of the lady's return, and saw the danger.
He immediately wrote to the Prince, and implored him
to take care ; above all, to avoid any ceremony of
marriage. " Make yourself easy, my dear friend," re-
plied George ; " believe me, the world will now soon be

* Lord Holland, Memoirs of the Whig Party, ii. 126.

MR. CHARLES PYBUS.

FROM AN KNGKAVING IN THE POSSBSSION OF THE CLUB.

The History of White's. 157

convinced that there not only is, but never was, any
ground for these reports which of late have been so
malevolently circulated." Within ten days of writing
that letter he had married Mrs. Fitzherbert.

The Prince's duplicity did not stop here. The
question of his allowance had been brought before Par-
liament, and injudiciously pushed by his friends. Rumours
of the marriage were about. Pitt, in opposing the vote,
hinted at it, talked of "' the delicacy of the question," and
threatened that the whole question of the Prince's affairs
would have to be coniiidered if the Opposition persisted
in their action as to the allowance. Another member
of White's (Mr., afterwards Lord, Rolle) alluded "to
matters of Church and State " as involved in the question.
Mrs. Fitzherbert being a Catholic.

The innuendoes of the Court party were, at length,
repudiated, in plain terms, by Fox. " The fact " (of the
marriage) " not only never could have happened legally,
but never did happen in any way whatsoever," said he,
" and had, from the beginning, been a false and malicious
falsehood." The indefatigable Mr. Rolle then enquired
if he spoke with "direct authority." Fox assured him
that such was the case.

The following day Fox, strolling down to Brookes's,
as usual, was met by a friend — said to have been Mr.
Orlando Bridgeman, afterwards Lord Bradford, and a
member of White's. " I see," said this gentleman.

158 The History of Whitens.

" that you have denied the marriage of the Prince and
Mrs. Fitzherbert. You have been misinformed ; I was
present at the marriage myself!"

The news of Fox's speech had now to be broken to
the lady. The Prince undertook this himself. " Only
conceive, Maria, what Fox did yesterday," said he; "he
went down to the House and denied that you and I were
man and wife." The same day he acknowledged that a
marriage had taken place, and asked Grey to explain
matters to " Charles."

This was the man to whom the fortunes of Fox and
his party were committed ; no wonder that Pitt was seen
in high spirits at White's.

Then came the King's illness. It was thought im-
probable that he would recover, and the Prince found
himself a figure of the first importance. Fox was abroad,
disgusted at his former treatment, and hopeless of a
change for the better in politics. The Prince went for
advice to another member of White's. Lord Lough-
borough was in favour of a coup d'etat. There were
papers in his handwriting, found at his death, showing
how this might be brought about. Fox posted back to
England, a consultation was held, the Prince's regency
was claimed as a right, and the Whigs announced them-
selves as the successors of the Pitt ministry, they even
began to quarrel among themselves as to places in the
new Administration. Then there was ratting from the

ALEXANDER, FIRST EARL OF ROSSLYN.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLI.'B.

By S. Grozer, after SiR Joshua Keynoi.us.

The History of Whites. 159

Court party. It was a time to find out placemen; these
gentlemen were puzzled to know which side to take.
Among those who left Pitt at this crisis, we notice the
names of some members of White's: the Duke of
Queensberry, Lord Malmesbury, the Marquess of
Lothian, Lord Abergavenny, Lord Cholmondeley, and
others. The Prince openly promised colonelcies and
appointments on all sides.

The behaviour of the royal brothers at this juncture
is not pleasant reading. The Prince would take strangers
down to Windsor to hear the ravings of his father. He
and the Duke of York would sit without protest while
gamblers at Brookes's would say, " I play the lunatic,"
instead of " I play the king." But in the midst of all
these hopes and anticipations the King recovered.

White's at once deputed Lord Chesterfield to wait
on the Queen with an address of congratulation, and to
inform Her Majesty that the Club was about to give a
ball in honour of the event. The ball was the occasion
of a remarkable display on the part of the Prince. He
detested White's, as the chosen club of the Minister who
had opposed him during the King's illness, and as soon
as the entertainment was announced, forbad his friends
to attend it. He and the Duke of York then sent their
tickets to be sold at a public library ! To prevent this
scandal the stewards of the Club required the name
of each guest to appear on the ticket. Nothing loth.

i6o The History of White's.

the Duke supplied this, and the edifying spectacle con-
tinued of two princes of the blood offering for purchase
by all and sundry, the tickets for a private entertainment
to which they had been invited.

The ball took place at the Pantheon on March 31st,
r 789, and is duly described in the " European Magazine."
" There were 14,000 lamps," we are told, " besides candles
and lustres, disposed in a style beautiful beyond concep-
tion. The supper was Martindale's, the dessert Gunter's,
all the designs Wyatt's, the transparent paintings by
Smirke." The stewards were Lords Coventry, Chester-
field, Winchilsea, Strathaven and Stopford. No pains
were spared to identify the occasion with the Court Party.
The Duchesses of Gordon and Buccleuch took a promi-
nent part in the arrangements, and issued an order
that ladies were expected to come in uniform. This is
described as of " white satin elegantly decorated with gold
fringe, gold bandeaux round the arms and waist, gold
tassels at the shoulders, and on their heads they wore
large plumes of white feathers and bandeaux with the
words 'God save the King,' 'Long hve the King.'"
The report says : " It is almost needless to add that the
Minister and most of his adherents were present. A
notable thing of the meeting was ' God save the King,'
called for by a lady at seven in the morning, encored
twice, played by the band, sung by them and all the
company."

;iii-X-ii±iia^a

CHARLES, FOURTH DUKE OF RICHMOND.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By II. Meyer, after J, Hofpner.

The History of Whites. i6i

Three weeks later, Brookes's followed suit with a
grand gala at the Opera House. Although the head-
quarters of the Prince's faction, that club included all
the older Whigs who had never identified themselves
with Fox, Burke and Sheridan, and were as anxious to
welcome the recovery of the King as White's over the
way. But the Prince's attitude towards the ball at
White's gave a party character to that of Brookes's,
and all the ladies of the Court party refused to attend.
The ball was on a grand scale. Mrs. Siddons, we read,
was retained to appear as Britannia, and recite an
ode " written by Mr. Merry, the author of the ' Delia
Crusca Poems.' " The ode is given at length by the
" European Magazine," and it must have required all
the genius of the divine Sarah to make it sufferable.
" Refulgent from his zenithed height. The vast orb
showers the living light," it begins, and the author goes
on to trace the " highest glories of the Brunswick race"
in the doings of George, Prince of Wales. At the con-
clusion of the ode, " Mrs. Siddons sat down in the usual
attitude, and with the emblems of Britannia, presenting
a delightful spectacle."

The ill feeling between the two factions culminated
in a duel. The Court champion. Colonel Lennox, after-
wards Duke of Richmond, hailed from White's ; his
opponent was no less a person than the Duke of York.
In this affair the Duke seems to have acted very well.

1 62 The History of Whites.

The Ministry had given Colonel Lennox a command
in the Duke's own regiment, the Coldstream Guards,
and, against the practice usual in the Army, without
intimation to the Duke himself. The Duke resented this
treatment, not offensively or with animus, but on general
principles. He explained to Lennox that he was glad
the affair had happened in his case, as he was delighted
to have him in the regiment, although he disapproved of
the manner of his appointment, as detrimental to the
service. To this Lennox replied, curdy, that it was the
King's wish that he should be in the regiment, and that
was enough for him. His rudeness did not rest with this
ungracious speech. He was accustomed to revile the
Prince and his doings in the presence of the Duke, and
was, on one occasion, called very sharply to order by
St. Leger, a great friend of the Prince, and a member
of White's. St. Leger asked him why he did not address
his remarks to "some of us who could answer them."
Speaking of this afterwards, the Duke said that
Lennox had submitted to language such as no gendeman
ought to bear. The remark being reported to Lennox,
he demanded an explanation of the Duke in the presence
of the officers of the regiment. This the Duke refused.
He had no wish, he said, to point out a quarrel to the
Colonel; moreover, it was unnecessary, as the words
were spoken to Lennox himself, and he must be acquainted
with the speaker. Lennox then sent a circular letter to

COLONEL ST. LEGER.

KKOM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OP THE CLUB

By G. DupoNT, after Gainsborough.

The History of White s. 163

the members of Daubigne's Club, where the conversation
had occurred, asking each if he had ever heard him
submit to language which ought to have been resented.
He got httle help in this direction, St. Leger's reply
almost amounted to a challenge in itself.

Lennox then deputed Lord Winchilsea to carry a
message to the Duke, and the parties met at Wimbledon.
Lord Moira, another member of White's, acted as second
to the Duke. There is little doubt that Lennox was in
earnest : Lord Winchilsea's carriage was provided with
all necessaries for a hasty flight. Pistols were the
weapons chosen, and twelve paces only separated the
combatants. Lennox fired, and the ball cut off a curl
from the Duke's forehead ; the Duke did not return the
fire, and refused to do so. Lord Winchilsea then ex-
pressed the hope that His Royal Highness would say he
considered the Colonel a man of honour and courage.
The Duke replied that he should say nothing ; he had
come out, not intending to fire, but to give the Colonel
satisfaction ; if he was not satisfied, the Colonel might fire
again. On this, both parties left the ground. The seconds
published these particulars in an account of the meeting,
and concluded by saying they thought it proper to add,
"that both parties had behaved with the most perfect
coolness and intrepidity."

This duel marked the height of the feeling between
the two pairties. By the recovery of the King, Pitt

164 The History of Whites.

gained a complete victory over the Prince's faction. The
day of retribution came, and those who had been shaky
during the time of doubt when the King lay ill, now felt
the heavy hand of the Minister. The Prince writes to
Lord Cornwallis — another member of the Club, then in
India — complaining that "every friend that supported
me in the common cause of succession of ye family, if
they had any place, have been dismissed, such as the
Duke of Queensberry and our little friend Lothian."
Lord Cornwallis, however, coldly deprecated the discus-
sion of the Regency question with an officer of the King.

But the ill feeling between the two parties, so far as
it affected White's, declined after the duel. The Prince
of Wales and the Duke of York, both honorary members
of the Club, were subsequently often to be seen there.
They are both represented as being thrown from the
balcony of White's, in one of the savage political
cartoons of Gilray, published at the beginning of the
present century.

A remarkable character, who came to England
about this time, who was patronised by the Prince, and
who has left an interesting record of his visit in one of
the Club books, was the Chevalier St. George, the
famous maitre cTarmes. St, George seems to have been
the Admirable Crichton of his day. He was the natural
son of a French planter, M. de Boulogne, by a coloured
slave. His father brought him home to France, gave

en
O

t-H

K
CO

a"
O

K
u

w
a

o
in
ai
o

C/3

The History of Whites. 165

him a fair education, and left him an annuity of three
hundred a year. As the boy grew up he showed a
remarkable proficiency in all bodily exercises ; his skill in
swimming and skating astonished the unathletic French.
He was also a competent musician, and a dead shot with
the pistol. But he most excelled in the peculiarly French
art of fencing.

He turned to his proficiency with the small sword
as a means of living, and, coming to England, was
distinguished by the notice of the Prince of Wales. The
"Morning Herald" of April 9th, 1787, tells us that
" on Monday, a Grand Assault was made at Carlton
House, before the Prince of Wales, the Due de Lauzan,
Madame d'Eon, and a few of His Highness's select
friends. The principal competitors were Mons. de
St. George, Mons. Fabian, Mons. Moge, and Mr. H.
Angelo. The assault between Mons. St. George and
Mons. Fabian had every claim to attention. The
quickness of the first-named gentleman was incredible ;
the masters present testified the highest praise at this
requisite of the art, and readily acknowledged his merit
in point of strength and neatness."

We read later : " The Prince did Mons. St. George
the honour to thrust with him in carte and tierce, and
astonished every beholder with his amazing grace ;
whenever His Highness put himself on his guard, his
attitudes were highly elegant and easy. From the

i66 The History of White s.

sanction of the Prince, many of our young nobility
have begun to apply with uncommon attention to the
practice of defence."

St. George became the fashion, and was invited to
White's. He returned to France in 1 789, and has left
the following acknowledgment of the hospitality of the
Club in one of its books :

" St. George, setting out for France, is come to
pay his respects to all the honourable club of Witte's and
to give his very hearthy tanks, to all the noble Lords,
Dukes, Earls, Barons, Knights, and Gentlemen, for being
so good as to receive him in so illustrious Club and so
good company ; he is in hope of the same favour every
time he will come in England ; if he may be serviceable
for France to some noble member of the Club, he will
esteem himself very happy."

LE CHEVALIER ST. GEORGE.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLI/B.

By W. Ward, after M. Brown.

167

CHAPTER XI.

Alterations in Rules — Win. Pitt's Committee — Appointment of Managers —
Wines drunk in England in the Eighteenth Century — Faro forbidden
at White's — Faro at Brookes s — Beau Brummell — Initiates the Beau
period at Whites — Brummell s Parentage — Meets the Prince — Becomes
a Leader of Fashion — His Unfeeling Rudeness— Decline of BrummelFs
Influence — Napoleon and Bets at White s — The Peninsula Heroes
— Ball to celebrate the Peace— Dinner to the Duke of Wellington —
White's and Waterloo.

We may notice some alterations in the rules of White's
during the last few years of the eighteenth century. In
1788 an entrance fee of ten guineas was imposed, and in
1 79 1 it was decided " that the number of this Club shall
be no longer limited, and whenever the number shall be
less than three hundred and fifty, the Club may depute
five members to add twenty thereto."

This rule is noticeable as being the first which
proposed to take elections out of the hands of the Club
at large, and entrust them to a Committee. The
proposal and the removal of any limit to the member-
ship evidently caused great shaking of the head among
the older members. Six years later the rule was repealed,
and the Club limited to four hundred.

It is interesting to find that, in 1797, the great Pitt
found leisure to act as member of a Committee which

1 68 The History of White's.

met " to consider the present state of the Club." Pitt's
colleagues were his brother the Earl of Chatham, the
Dukes of Leeds and Montrose, Lord Chesterfield and
Lord Boringdon. The deliberations of these gentlemen
resulted in a curious alteration in the method of ballotting.
A candidate against whom a single black ball only was
recorded was given another chance. His name was
again submitted to the meeting, and if on a second
ballot, no black ball appeared, he was declared elected.
Elections were still open to every member of the Club,
and the reason for this change is not obvious. One
would think that the member who dropped in a black ball
at the first ballot would hardly relent in the few minutes
which elapsed before the second took place.

The Committee also recommended the annual elec-
tion of three Managers, whose duties were to keep an
eye on Mr. Martindale. By a rule adopted by the Club,
the Managers for the year were to have "complete
controul over the master of the house in everything which
relates to the management of the Club." We find one
of the first of their acts was to take the choice of the
wine, hitherto left to Martindale, into their own hands.

From an elaborate treatise on wines, ancient and
modern, published by Sir Edward Barry in 1775, we
learn that the adulteration of well-known vintages was
by no means confined to the commercial age in which
we live. It was probably a natural wish to drink the

SIR GEORGE BEAUMONT, SEVENTH BARONET.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By H. Meyer, after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The History of White s. 169

juice of the grape in as pure a state as possible, that
induced the Managers to take upon themselves the
responsibility of choosing the wines for the Club.

Sir Edward gives us much interesting information
about the wines drunk in England during the early and
middle part of the last century. He remembered the
time when Canary, which had furnished Falstafif with
sack at the Boar's Head, was still sent in large quantities
to England. " But these," says he, " for some years
past, have entirely vanished, and are now mixed with
some other wines to improve them and enhance their
price." He deplores the prevalent taste for " sparkling
frothy champaign " instead of the still variety, but
thought it was mending. Within his memory, the
finest vintages of claret were to be obtained pure,
and at a cheap rate, at all the principal taverns.
The duty on these wines was low, but the sale limited ;
for though quite within the reach of the lower classes,
claret never took the place of the malt liquor so dear to
the British workman.

As the taste for wine spread, French clarets were
spoilt by mixture of Alicant from Spain, which was
added to increase their strength as well as their volume.
A new fermentation, says Sir Edward, invariably followed
the mixture, and ruined the original Bordeaux. The
wine was often further tampered with on its arrival in
England.

170 The History of White's.

The difficulty of getting good claret seems to have
brought port into fashion. In 1775 these wines were in
great request: "but as the demands for them and their
price have greatly increased, it is not improbable that
they will meet with the same fate as French wines."
The Baronet was a true prophet.

He tells us, also, that in his day Madeira wines
were universally drunk in England : " and a much greater
quantity of them is consumed in London with that name
than the whole island produces." Hock was still "pure,
agreeable and valuable," and sherry of the right sort
might also be obtained by a ' proper application.'*

Returning to the Committee of 1797, we may note
that their appointment of the three Managers gave
White's the first of its standing committees. From
another of their rules relating to the payment for cards
and dice, it would seem that hazard had returned to the
Club, but it was expressly laid down that no member
should be permitted to keep a faro bank. This
rule was doubtless made to avoid the state of things
which had lately prevailed at Brookes's. There, Lord
Robert Spencer and General Fitzpatrick, both reduced
to their last shilling, had opened a faro bank. Lord
Robert soon after retired with /^ioo,ooo, as his share of
the winnings, and never played again.

* Observations on the Wines of the Ancients and the Analogy
between them and Modern Wines. Sir Ed, Barry, Bart., 1775.

GEORGE BRUMMELL.

FROM AN ENGRAVING AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

By J. Cook, from a Miniature.

The History of White's. 171

In the last year of the century, White's increased
its number to four hundred and fifty.

When Princess Caroline of Brunswick- Wolfenbuttel
came to England in 1795, to conclude her ill-omened
marriage with George, Prince of Wales, among the
officers of the escort sent down to meet her at Greenwich
was a young cornet of Hussars named Brummell. The
boy, only sixteen at the time, had attracted the notice of
the Prince of Wales. The Prince was accustomed to
walk over to the lodge in the Green Park, which then
stood opposite Clarges Street, to see the gatekeepers'
cows milked. The gatekeepers were Brummell's aunts,
two old ladies in reduced circumstances named Searle.
They had been installed in the comfortably furnished
lodge by George III., and were allowed to keep cows
in the park, and to sell milk. Here the Prince met
Brummell, fresh from Eton, and the cornetcy was the
result of the interview.* Young Brummell subsequently
became a figure of the first note in the world of fashion,
in fact, for some years at the beginning of the present
century, as " Beau " Brummell, he was its autocrat. He
was a member of White's, and made the Club his head-
quarters, and his entry marks the beginning of a distinct
period in its history — that of the Beaux.

At Eton, Brummell seems to have been generally

*Grego's "Gronow's Reminiscences," 1892, ii. 228.

172 The History of White's.

popular, but even there he was laughed at for the
fineness of his manners. On one occasion, he displayed
great anxiety lest a bargee, who was about to be thrown
over the parapet of a bridge into the Thames, by
some of his schoolfellows, might take cold ! At Oxford
he was less liked. He gained some reputation for wit,
more as an accomplished tuft-hunter. There was certainly
humour in turning a tame jackdaw into the quadrangle,
wearing white bands to parody the proctor, but the
cutting of his less fashionable Eton friends, and his fine
eye for a lord, gained the Beau less popularity.

The reputation of young Brummell for good sayings
seems to have decided the Prince to renew the acquaint-
ance begun at Mrs. Searle's dairy. At his command,
Brummell was invited to a private dinner at which
he was present. The cleverness and self-possession
of the youth pleased the Prince, and for some years he
kept the Beau near him as prime favourite. Brummell
was thus introduced into the first society at a very early
age, the officers of his regiment were mostly men of
high birth, he was popular amongst them, and was soon
received into the inner circle of what was then a highly
exclusive society.

After the novelty of the thing had worn off, the
army ceased to have any attractions for Brummell. The
uniform, no doubt, at first was a joy, but to fight in a
dirty battle had no place in the Beau's ambition. He

WILLIAM SPENCER, SIXTH DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.

From the original painung by Lawrence, in the possessum of the Club.

The History of White's. 173

resigned his commission after three years' service. The
reason he gave to the Prince was, that the regiment was
ordered to Manchester. Others said that he could not
live with the hair powder still worn in the army. Others,
again, were ill-natured enough to see sufficient reason for
the Beau's retirement in the probability of hard knocks
abroad. Whatever the reason, Brummell sold out in 1 798,
and was the same year elected a member of White's.
He at once set himself to become a leader of
fashion, and must have been surprised by his own success.
His birth, though quite respectable, was certainly no
higher than middle class. His father had been secretary
to Lord North, and had the management of one or two
large estates. Yet to Beau Brummell, at the age of
twenty-five, the proudest dukes in England were
accustomed to turn for advice in matters of dress and
fashion, and to receive very frank replies. " I want your
opinion on this coat, Brummell, "said the Duke of Bedford.
" Do you call that thing a coat, Bedford?" replied the
Beau, after a pause, during which he had taken hold
of his Grace's lappet and slowly turned him round for a
general view of the garment. Tradesmen, we learn,
made fortunes by his patronage of their articles, and the
Prince of Wales himself would spend hours in watching
the Beau at his toilette.

There was a great opportunity for a genius of this
description. One of the minor effects of the French

174 The History of White's.

Revolution, and the spread of republican ideas in
America, was a total change in the dress of the upper
classes in England. Fox, the apostle of the new gospel,
affected a studied negligence in his personal appearance,
and there was an assimilation between the dress of high
and low in sympathy with the prevalent doctrines of
equality. Knee breeches and the small sword were then,
as to-day, seen only at Court, wigs had disappeared,
and powder, which had taken their place, was fast
following. We read in 1795 of the Duke of Bedford
and his household at "Woburn, including the stranger
within his gates, undergoing a general shearing, as a
protest against Pitt's tax on hair-powder. The cocked
hat had gone, and the present tall hat had come in ;
muslin cravats, waistcoats and pantaloons were beginning
to be worn. Masculine dress indeed, after 1794, con-
sisted, as to-day, of coat, tall hat, waistcoat and trousers.*
It was with these unpromising materials that Brummell
sought to revive the departed glories of personal apparel,
and to elevate its harmonious arrangement to the dignity
of a fine art.

The most intimate friends of the Beau were all
members of White's ; among them were the Dukes of
Rutland, Bedford and Beaufort, the Earl of Chatham,

* Wraxall's " Hist. Memoirs," i. (35; Lecky's "History of England,"

vi. 148.

JOHN HENRY, FIFTH DUKE OF RUTLAND.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OP THE CLUB.

By C. Turner, after J. Hoppner,

The History of Whites. 175

Lord Delamere, Lord F. Bentinck, Lord Robert
Manners, Lord Jersey, Lord Willoughby d'Eresby,
Lord Charles Manners, General Grosvenor, and Sir
W. W. Wynn. Brummell was the central figure of this
good company and its oracle in all matters of taste.
The Beau also seems to have been intimate with the
Duke of York ; with the Prince of Wales he soon
quarrelled.

As a matter of fact there was no room for two such
stars in the same heaven. The court paid to Brummell
by men and women was so general, that the Prince may
have felt some anxiety as to his own position in society.
Brummell, too, was accustomed to exercise his wit at
the expense of Mrs. Fitzherbert ; he had, in fact,
espoused the cause of her rival, Lady Jersey. On one
occasion, at a ball at the latter lady's house, he laid par-
ticular stress on the word " mistress," in ordering Mrs.
Fitzherbert's carriage, at the Prince's request. He was
accustomed also to make funny allusions to the growing
corpulence of his royal friend. A coolness ensued,
which the Beau was at no pains to remove, indeed, he
openly boasted that he meant to cut the Prince, and
bring the old King into fashion. " I made him what he
is," said he to Colonel Macmahon, "and I can unmake
him." These sayings, for which we are indebted to the
amiable Captain Jesse, who has done all he could for his
hero, seem well authenticated. Others, better known —

176 The History of White's.

such as that about his requesting " George " to ring the
bell, and the famous "Who is your fat friend?" — are
apocryphal.*

The breach became wider, and was never healed.
There was one opportunity which, however, the Beau
refused to take. He and three of his friends. Lord
Alvanley and Messrs. Pierrepoint and Mildmay, had
won largely at hazard. They gave a ball at the Argyll
Rooms to celebrate the event, and the Prince (who had
been sounded) expressed his willingness to be present.
Mildmay was also out of favour, and when the Prince
was received by the four hosts, he greeted Alvanley and
Pierrepoint with effusion, but took no notice of the other
two. Brummell retaliated by refusing to attend him to
his carriage on leaving. " Had Brummell taken the cut
I gave him good humouredly," said the Prince afterwards,
" I would have renewed my intimacy with him." This,
however, happened near the end of the Beau's reign,
and the friendship was never renewed.

Notwithstanding his quarrel with his august friend,
the Beau maintained his position as a leader of fashion.
He sprang suddenly into that position — to which he was
not entitled by birth or fortune — and he kept himself in
it as long as his means lasted by his natural assurance,
and also by what to-day would be called unmitigated

* Capt. Jesse's " Life of Beau Brummell," 1844.

GEORGE, FOURTH DUKE OF DORSET.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By Charles Picart, after Charles Robertson.

The History of Whites. 177

insolence. It is really surprising that Brummell went
through life with a whole skin. He supported his pre-
tensions by the most unfeeling rudeness, not to men only,
but to women. He presents himself uninvited at an
aspiring lady's ball for the express purpose of insulting
her by pretending to have mistaken her party for one
given by a well-known City lady of similar name at
Finsbury Square on the same day. Another aspirant for
social distinction asks him to dine, and leaves him to
select the company. Alvanley, Mills, and Pierrepoint
are chosen, and the cooking and wine are unexceptionable.
Brummell tells the story next day at White's, and wonders
at his host's assurance in sitting down to dine with hisguests.
Another of his entertainers offers him a lift in his
own carriage to Lady Jersey's ball. " Thank you
exceedingly," replies the Beau, " but how are you to go ?
You surely would not like to get up behind ; no, that
would not be right, and yet it will scarcely do for me to
be seen in the same carriage with you." Once the Beau
met his match. There was hazard at Brookes's, and
Alderman Combe, the brewer, was of the party. " Come,
Mash Tub," said Brummell, who was the caster, " what's
your set ?" " Twenty-five guineas," replied the Alder-
man. " Well, then, 'nave at the Mayor's pony only,"
said Brummell, "and seven's the main." He continued
to throw, till he had won twelve ponies running.
Pocketing the money, he . thanked the Alderman, and

178 The History of Whites.

promised that in future he would drink no one's porter
but his. " I wish, Sir," said Combe, "that every other
blackgtaard in London would tell me the same."

White's was a very necessary institution to a man of
Brummell's aspirations. The part he played would have
been impossible without the prestige which membership
of the Club gave him, and the first step in his career of
fashion was to gain admittance. He was proud of his
connection with the Club, and used to exhibit himself at
proper intervals in its front window. We read in
Gronow's " Reminiscences " of old Colonel Sebright of
the Guards being moved to wrath by the sight of the
Beau and Lord Alvanley displaying themselves in this
way. " Damn the fellows," said he ; " they are upstarts,
and fit only for the society of tailors." Brummell made
amusing use of his connection with the Club. He was
reproached by an angry father whose son had gone astray
in the Beau's company. " Really I did all I could for
the young fellow," said he ; "I once gave him my arm all
the way from White's to Wattier's." Later, when he was
coming to the end of his means and of his career in
England, some of his friends who had assisted him with
loans became importunate. One of these pressed him
for the repayment of ;^500. " I paid you," said the Beau.
" Paid me ; when, pray ?" " Why, when I was standing
at the window at White's, and said as you passed, " How
d'you do, Jemmy."

CROPLEY ASHLEY, SIXTH EARL OF SHAFTESBURY.

KKOM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By C. Turner, after Sir T. Lawrence.

The History of White's. 179

Play was the rock on which the Beau finally split.
At first, gaming was not among his chief weaknesses,
and when he did play he had extraordinary luck. At
one sitting at whist at White's he won ^10,000 fi-om
George Harley Drummond, the banker. It is said that
this was the first game Drummond ever played at a club ;
it was probably his last ; for it led to his withdrawal
from the banking business. But Brummell was not a
man of large property, and when later, he began to play
habitually, a few reverses were sufficient to ruin a man
of small means who matched his fortune against the much
longer purses of his friends. The close of the war in the
Peninsula, and the final peace after Waterloo, brought
home numbers of officers who had long arrears of pay to
get rid of. Play revived, and reached a height unknown
even in the palmy days of White's and Almack's. The
Beau went under. Jesse tells us that his shortness of
means was not his only misfortune. His influence was
on the wane. Times had changed England united to
pay homage to the heroes who had delivered the country
from the danger of the Corsican. Worst of all, the
ladies began to find more interest in the uniform of a
young officer of the Guards than in the finest toilet of the
Beau. Cossack chiefs from the Don, and Prussian
generals smelling of tobacco, took the pas of the Beau
and his lavender water.

The Beau's game was up. He felt that fortune had

l8o The History of Whites.

turned against him, and with a superstition, which, as
we know, often accompanies genius, he traced all his
misfortunes to the loss of a lucky sixpence with a hole in
it. He gave it away, by mistake, to a cabman, and
supposed " that rascal Rothschild, or some of his set,

had got hold of it." One creditor, a Mr. M , became

especially importunate. One evening in May, 1816,
Brummell appeared at the opera as usual, but left
early. He travelled the same night post haste to
Dover, and had landed at Calais next morning before
he was missed by his creditors. Most of his friends
had great reason to deplore his loss. Lord Robert
Manners was one of the chief sufferers. Brummell's
rooms, in Chapel Street, were entered by brokers,
and on the 22nd of May, Mr. Christie sold, by auction,
" the genuine property of a man of fashion gone to the
Continent."

Among the " genuine property " was a handsome
snuffbox. Upon this being opened by the auctioneer,
it was found to contain a note, in the Beau's handwriting,
to the following effect: "This was intended for the
Prince Regent if he had conducted himself with more
propriety towards me."

With Brummell's downward career in France we
have little to do. He lived for many years on the
charity of friends, and as these died off sank deeper
and deeper in distress. He was imprisoned for debt.

^"^^ ■^^=^<=.^5-.S5^ ^^««^

"BEAU BRUMMELL" as an old man.

From an Engraving in Captain Jessk's " Life of George Bkummell.'

ARTHUR, FIRST DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

From the original Painting by Count D'Orsay in the possession of the Club.

The History of White's. i8i

became paralysed, and finally closed the career, which
had begun so brilliantly, in a mad house.

It is not surprising to find that the fortunes of
Napoleon were followed with the closest interest at the
Club. The various incidents in his career form the
subject of numerous entries in the betting book during
the few years preceding his final overthrow at Waterloo.
There does not seem to have been much doubt at
White's as to the escape of Napoleon from the disasters
of the Russian campaign. The odds of ten to one are
given in half-a-dozen or more wagers, that he would return
alive to Paris after the reverse to the French arms at
Moscow. Brummell, Sir H. Mildmay, Lord Hinchinbrook
and others who gave the odds, were the winning parties
to these bets.

On the later events of the great struggle there is
more difference of opinion. Members were much puzzled
to make up their minds as to the effect of the battle of
Leipsic, and the entry of the Allies into French territory
in the eariy months of 1814. Sir George Talbot, who
throughout the war took a decidedly John Bull view of
the struggle, was a confirmed believer in the ultimate
success of the Allies. He gives odds that Napoleon's
reverses would end in his disappearance from the head of
the French Government. Another member, Mr, Brodrick,
bets in January that " Buonaparte will not be alive this
day three weeks." Lord Cassillis, Beau Brummell

i82 The History of Whites.

Colonel Armstrong and others had less confidence in the
fortunes of united Europe.

White's at this time was full of the men who had
distinguished themselves in the Napoleonic wars. The
great Duke himself was elected in 1812, and most of his
lieutenants were members of the Club. Here is Lord
Uxbridge, who astonished Napoleon by the fury with
which he repelled the attacks of the French on the army
of Sir John Moore retreating to Corunna, and whose
extraordinary bravery later at Waterloo gained him the
Marquisate of Anglesea. Here, too, is Sir David Baird,
who, after distinguishing himself by his services all over
the world, led the first division at Corunna and took the
chief command of the army on the death of Moore.
Lord Hill, we notice, was elected in the Waterloo year.
Charles Stewart, Marquess of Londonderry, was another
of Wellington's captains who was a member of the Club.
Gronow tells us that Stewart was responsible for some of
the adverse criticisms on Wellington's early conduct of
the Peninsular campaign, which appeared in the London
papers, and caused him much annoyance. Having
ascertained who was the author, he sent for Stewart
to his quarters, and threatened if he wrote again to
send him home. Many other officers of less note who
fought under W^ellington were admitted to White's
at the close of the war. Colonel Gurwood, the
Duke's private secretary, was a member ; here, too,

MARSHAL BLUCHER.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By C. E. Wagstaff, after Sir T. Lawrence.

The History of Whites. 183

is Marshal Blucher elected an honorary member in
1 8 10.

The peace after Waterloo had a marked effect on the
Club. As we have seen in following the fortunes of
Brummell, many of these officers had long arrears of pay
unspent, and their appearance at White's was followed by
a revival of gaming. The younger of the Peninsular
officers became the fashionable exquisites of the peaceful
years which followed Waterloo ; and they continued the
cult of dandyism founded nearly twenty years before by
Brummell. In the meantime White's decided to celebrate
the conclusion of the Peninsular War by an entertainment
suitable to the occasion.

On April 25th, 1814, we find the following entry in
the Club minutes : " Resolved, that the Club at White's
will give a ball in celebration of the late glorious
events, and that a subscription be forthwith opened
for this purpose, not exceeding twenty guineas by each
subscriber."

It was a time of general rejoicing. The long
struggle in the Peninsula had resulted in the French
being driven over the Pyrenees, and followed by an
English army into France. The Allies had done their
share in the general contest with the man whose ambition
had so long convulsed Europe, and it seemed at last that
final deliverance from Buonaparte had arrived. Peace
had been proclaimed, Louis XVIII. was on the throne of

184 The History of Whites.

France, the Allied Sovereigns were exchanging congratu-
lations with the Prince Regent in London, and Napoleon,
as all the world thought, was safe for the rest of his days
at Elba.

White's certainly rose to the occasion. The Club
at this time consisted of five hundred members, and
from the accounts of the money expended on the ball, it
is evident they all subscribed. The Club deputed its
members of highest rank to act as stewards : these were
the Dukes of Argyll, Beaufort, Buccleuch, Devonshire,
Grafton, Portland and Richmond, the Marquess of
Huntly, the Earls of Winchilsea, Yarmouth, Shaftesbury,
Rosebery, Hardewicke, Conyngham, Limerick and
Shannon, Lords de Clifford, Sydney, Henley, Cassillis,
Boringdon, Lord John Thynne, Sir George Warrender,
Sir Richard Borough, Sir John Shelley, Mr. John
Manners, Mr. Freemantle and Mr. Villiers. One of
these stewards, the Duke of Devonshire, placed his
mansion, Burlington House, at the disposal of the Club
for the occasion ; and there the ball took place.

From the Club records, we read that two thousand
four hundred persons were present at the entertainment,
and that " the Prince Regent, the Emperor of Russia,
and the King of Prussia honoured the ball by their
presence." The newspapers of the day were so much
occupied with the general doings of these august person-
ages in England, that they give very meagre accounts of

THOMAS, FIRST LORD LYNEDOCH.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By HoDGETTS, after Sir Thomas Lawrence,

.1^

»i>»,i

ROWLAND, FIRST VISCOUNT HILL.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

]Jy Turner, after the Painting by Pickersgill.

The History of White's. 185

the ball. We learn, however, from the " Gentleman's
Magazine" that on the 21st of June, 1814, "the Prince
Regent and the illustrious visitors and their suites went,
by invitation, to White's fete, which was graced by one
of the most handsome assemblages of women ever seen
in this country. The Emperor of Russia and the King
of Prussia paid due homage to their charms, the former
keeping it ' on the light fantastic toe ' up till five o'clock
in the morning."

The ball over, the Committee met to count the cost.
They first proceeded to pass complimentary resolutions
to the stewards. The minute runs : " That the Club
would consider itself as remiss in due attention to meri-
torious exertion if it failed to take the earliest opportunity
of returning its sincere thanks to such of its members as
were deputed to act as stewards for the fete given at
Burlington House." His Grace the Duke of Devonshire
is requested to accept the best acknowledgments of this
Club for the use of his magnificent mansion and garden,
which contributed so essentially to the dignity and
splendour of the fete, and the "stewards are desired to
wait upon his Grace to communicate this resolution."

The Managers then resolved that the whole state-
ment of accounts should be entered in a book, open to
the inspection of members, "to be kept as a record for
any future occasion." We may quote this account as
showing how the money went : —

A A

t86

The History of Whitens.

Handcock & Co., for Lustres...

Adamson,

Wine ...

Waud,

Supper, &c.

Downing,

Building, &c.

Newton,

Upholsterer

Gardner,

Lighting

Raggett,

Sundries

Weale,

Chairs, &c.

Police Officers ..

..•

Harrison,

Lights ...

Greenwood,

Painter...

Paley,

Mirror ...

Two Regimental Bands

Jenkins, for Flowers and Gravel

Gow, „ Music

Payne, „ Ditto

Surveyor of Buildings

Hawker, for Engraving Cards

Tatem, „ China

Rundell and Bridge

Payne,
Trumpeters
Barker,
Raggett,

for additional Music

„ Artificial Flowers

„ entering Resolutions in

Club Book

Gratuities : —

Raggett

Panton, Steward at Burlington House
Porter „ „

Clerk at White's

Waiters „

Gentlemen who attended to receive Tickets...
Porters and other Servants at White's, for
extra trouble

;£800

900

2.575

2,807

473

188

179

255

106

2 00

760

440

100 0

30 0

10 10

20 0

50 0

12 10

;^9.848 IS

SIR DAVID BAIRD, FIRST BARONET.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By HoDGETTS, after Raeburn.

The History of White's. 187

It is pleasant to read that, in the midst of all this
rejoicing, the sick and needy were not forgotten. The
final resolution of the Managers runs : " That the sum
remaining in the hands of the Club from the late enter-
tainment be distributed in proportions, to be hereafter
resolved, to certain public charities." This sum amounted
to as much as seven hundred pounds, and the hospitals
of London benefited to that extent.

A few weeks later, White's again united to do
honour to one of the greatest of its members, who had
played a very prominent part in " the late glorious
events." On the 6th of July a grand banquet was given
to the Duke of Wellington in the dining room of the
Club. The accounts of this entertainment do not appear
at length, but we gather from a resolution of the 25th of
the same month, that the subscriptions for the affair
amounted to £,2,^10. los., and that ;i^2,48o. los. had
been expended on the dinner. The balance of ;^50 was
given to the Society for the Relief of Small Debtors.

The feelings of relief which had produced these and
other rejoicings on the abdication of Buonaparte, were
rudely shaken in the following year, when Europe was
astounded by the news that he had escaped from Elba
and landed at Cannes. The opinions of White's at this
crisis are again reflected in the Betting Book. Little
else, apparently, was discussed at the Club; there are
pages of the book filled with wagers on Napoleon and

1 88 The History of Whites.

his fortunes. Some of the members took a very gloomy
view of the situation. Chief among these was Mr.
Thomas Raikes, of the "Journal," who makes numerous
bets for considerable sums that Napoleon would be master
of Belgium within a few months, that he would enter
Berlin before the Allies entered Paris, and so forth.
Waterloo, indeed, cost this gentleman a good deal of
money.

The croakers, however, were not in the majority.
Mr. Hugh Seymour gives odds that Buonaparte would
be got rid of within two years, and was not apprehensive
that he would unduly expose his person in battle, for, in
the event of his death in action, he concedes the stake to
his opponent, Sir Christopher Cole. Sir George Talbot,
as before, is quite cheerful, and looks forward to seeing
Napoleon in England as a prisoner of war. In April of
1815 he bets that he will have met him at White's
within two years. Sir George never seems to have
been happy unless recording a wager. A note to this
particular bet draws attention to the fact that it was the
hundred and fiftieth already entered in his name, and it
is followed in the book by, at least, as many more. To
do him justice, he won most of them.

RICHARD, FIRST MARQUESS OF WELLESLEY.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By J Heath, after Howe.

1 89

CHAPTER XII.

Changes in Rules — The origin oj the Bow Window — George Raggett — Other
Clubs of Raggett s— Whist at the Roxburgh — The Bow Window —
The Dandies — Lord Alvanley — His Dinners — Lord Allen — Lord
Sefton — Marquess of Worcester — Ball Hughes — Thomas Raikes—
The Tyranny of the Dandies — Betting at White's.

During the first ten years of the present century no
change was made in the rules of White's, still under the
management of the younger Martindale ; but, in 1811,
the subscription was raised to eleven guineas, and, in
consideration of certain alterations to be made by
Martindale, the entrance fee was raised from ten to
twenty guineas.

Up to this time the main entrance to the Club had
been in the centre of the front of the building, as shown
in the drawing from an old print here given. It was
now resolved to remove the entrance lower down, by
converting the second window from the bottom of the
house into a door, and to enlarge the morning room by
taking in the old entrance hall. This gave room for an
additional window. The old doorway was utilised for
this purpose, and the famous "Bow Window at White's "
was built out over the entrance steps, which may still be
seen supporting it.

I90 The History of White's.

" Should Mr. Martindale not fulfil the contract to
the satisfaction of the Managers of the time being,"
runs the minute, "the increased subscription to be
withdrawn." Whether the fulfilment of the contract
broke Mr. Martindale, or whether he died at this time,
is uncertain. His name disappears from the records
of the Club in the following year, and he was succeeded
as " Master of the house " by a gentleman of the name
of Raggett.

Raggett was, in his way, a remarkable character.
Besides White's, he owned a small Club in St. James's
Square, called the Roxburgh. Here, as at White's,
whist for high stakes was the rule. On one celebrated
occasion four players — Messrs. Hervey Combe, Tippoo
Smith, Ward, and Sir John Malcolm — sat down on a
Monday evening, played through the night, through the
following Tuesday and Tuesday night, and finally
separated at eleven on Wednesday morning. It is
interesting to notice that the separation took place then
only because Mr. Combe had to attend a funeral. That
gentleman rose a winner of thirty thousand pounds from
Sir John Malcolm.

On settling, " he pulled out of his pocket a handful
of counters, amounting to several hundred pounds, over
and above the thirty thousand he had won from the
Baronet, and gave them to Raggett, saying : ' I give
them to you for sitting so long with us, and providing

ROBERT (VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH), SECOND
MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By Turner, after Sir T. Lawrence.

The History of White's. 191

us with all we required.* ' " It was the practice of the
astute Raggett to attend his patrons personally whenever
there was high play going on. "I make it a rule never
to allow any of my servants to be present when gentle-
men play at my Clubs," said he, "for it is my invariable
custom to sweep the carpet after the gambling is over,
and I generally find on the floor a few counters, which
pays me for my trouble of sitting up. By this means I
have made a decent fortune."

Raggett was quick to take advantage of the stream
of fashion which flowed to Brighton with the Prince of
Wales. He opened a small Club on the Steyne, which
was available only to members of White's and Brookes's.
Raikes, in his "Journal," speaks of the excellent accom-
modation provided by Raggett at Brighton during the
season, and mentions that the cards and dice boxes of
St. James's were not forgotten.

With Raggett's management of White's began the
period of the famous Bow Window. No sooner was the
last workman out of the altered premises, than the new
window was taken possession of by Brummell, and
converted by him and his set into a very shrine of fashion,
of which they constituted themselves the high priests.
The bow window of White's became an institution in
fashionable life at the West-end. It was from the first

• Grego's "Gronow's Reminiscences," 1892, ii. 282.

192 The History of Whites.

sacred ground, to which only the chosen were admitted.
The leaders of the inner circle of the Club were its
occupants, and to them it was tacitly relinquished by the
rest. From members still living we learn that, within
their memory, an ordinary frequenter of White's would
as soon have thought of taking his seat on the throne
in the House of Lords, as of appropriating one of the
chairs in the bow window. Nice questions of etiquette
arose in connection with the bow window, and were duly
discussed and settled. We may give an instance. Its
occupants were so much in evidence to the outside world
in St. James's Street, that ladies of their acquaintance
could not fail to recognise them in passing. It was
decided, after anxious discussion, that no greeting should
pass from the bow window or from any window in the
club. As a consequence, the hat of the dandy in posses-
sion was ever after firmly fixed on his head, no matter
who passed.

The decision, we think, was a wise one. The
amenities of polite salutation would have been sadly
incongruous with much that proceeded from the bow
window at White's. There many a scandalous story had
its origin, and very candid criticism on all that went on
in St. James's Street during the London season was wont
to be wafted out on the summer air through the open
window. Mr. Luttrell, a member of the Club who may
be presumed to have some knowledge of what passed.

GOM10 to "WHITE'

A> •WJriAttStmriaf

WILLIAM, SECOND LORD ALVANLEY.

From the CarioUure by DiGHTON.

The History of White's. 193

alludes to the practice in his poem, " Advice to Julia,"
published in 1820. He is describing the town in August :

" Shot from yon heavenly bow at White's,
No critic arrow now aHghts
On some unconscious passer by
Whose cape's an inch too low or high,
Whose doctrines are unsound in hat,
In boots, or trousers, or cravat;
On him who braves the shame and guilt
Of gig or Tilbury ill built.
Sports a barouche with panels darker
Than the last shade turned out by Barker,
Or canters with an awkward seat.
And badly mounted, up the street.
No laugh confounds the luckless girl
Whose stubborn hair disdains to curl,
Who, large in foot, or long in waist,
Shows want of blood as well as taste.
Silenced awhile that dreadful battery.
Whence never issued sound of flattery ;
That whole artillery of jokes,
Levelled point blank at humdrum folks,
Who now, no longer kept in awe,
By Fashion's judges or her law,
Close by the window, at their ease.
Strut with what looks or clothes they please."

The traditions of the bow window, begun by
Brummell, were handed on by him to his dandy suc-
cessors. Chief among these was Lord Alvanley.
Brummell's junior by some years, he was elected to

B B

194 '1^^'-^ History of Whites.

White's in 1805. Captain Gronow, in his " Reminis-
cences," doubts "whether the year 1789 did not produce
the greatest wit of modern times in William Lord
Alvanley." Lord Alvanley was the son of the first
baron, the famous lawyer, Richard Pepper Arden.
Arden was notorious for the irascible manner in which
he conducted his cases, and his name was translated to
an enquiring Frenchman, who heard him pleading, as
"le Chevalier Poivre Ardent." "Parbleu," said the
Frenchman, " il est bien nomme."

The son inherited nothing of his father's ill temper.
The sting of his wit, unlike Brummell's, was invariably
disarmed by the geniality with which it was expressed.
Of his great powers in this direction there seems to be
no doubt. He was credited abroad, we read, with the
true esprit franfais — a very unusual compliment to an
Englishman. His manner, aided by a slight lisp, was,
says Gronow, irresistible.

Lord Alvanley, as an officer in the Coldstream
Guards, had served with distinction at Copenhagen and
in the Peninsula. He left the army on succeeding to an
immense fortune, and, like so many of his contemporaries,
seems to have devoted himself to getting rid of it. He
was the most noted bon vivant of his day, and was
utterly regardless of what his dinners cost. One of his
fancies was to have a cold apricot tart on his sideboard
every day throughout the year. Another instance of his

The History of White's. 195

prodigality was the payment of two hundred guineas to
Gunter for a luncheon basket, or its equivalent, which
had been forgotten in arranging a day's boating on the
Thames, and which he provided at the last moment.
Gunter and Lord Alvanley must have had many dealings.
His advice to Gunter on the restive horse is well known.
" He is so hot, my Lord, I can't hold him," said the
confectioner. " Ice him, Gunter, ice him," was the
reply.

We are indebted to a newspaper cutting without
date for the following account of a private dinner at
White's, organized in peculiar circumstances, by Lord
Alvanley : "It was agreed that whoever could produce
the most expensive dish should dine for nothing. The
winner was Lord Alvanley, whose dish was a fricassee
composed entirely of the noix or small pieces at each
side of the back taken from thirteen kinds of birds,
among them being one hundred snipe, forty woodcocks,
twenty pheasants, &c., in all about three hundred birds.
The cost, including garniture, amounted to ;^io8 5s."
It is not surprising to learn that this dish secured the
prize for Lord Alvanley.

Lord Alvanley was never known to pay cash for
anything. He was asked once by the sarcastic Colonel
Armstrong, who knew of this failing, what he had given
for a fine horse he was riding. " Nothing," said his
lordship ; " I owe Math Milton two hundred guineas for

196 The History of Whites.

him." Another failing of Lord Alvanley's caused his
friends at country houses some anxiety. He always
read in bed, and would never blow out his candle. His
method of extinguishing the light was usually to fling it
into the middle of the room ; if this was ineffectual he
would throw a pillow at it. Sometimes he would vary
the proceedings by putting the burning candle bodily
under his bolster. The habit becoming known at Bad-
minton and elsewhere, a servant was told off to keep
watch in the corridor outside his room.

Another constant occupant of the bow window was
Viscount Allen. " King" Allen, as he was called, like
his friend Lord Alvanley, fought in the Peninsula, and
greatly distinguished himself at Talavera. He was a
notable figure at White's for thirty years, and much
resented the entrance of bankers and merchants to the
Club. He was accustomed to speak of these gentlemen
as "my tradesmen."

Lord Allen, popular among his own friends, was
gifted with a very sharp tongue, which made many
enemies, and it is safe to assume that he was responsible
for many of the hard sayings for which the bow window
was famous. He was not a man of large means, and at
times had a difficulty in making both ends meet. Lord
Allen was a great diner-out, and some uncivil remark of
his to an old lady of similar temper to himself, drew from
her the retort, " My Lord, your title must be as good as

*-r'

:z;

£>

,«

li,

The History of Whites. 197

board wages to you ! " A sharp retort by Count d'Orsay
to some irritating chaff of Lord Allen's is also on record.
The latter was remarkable for a disagreeable breath, and
Mr. John Bush, entering the room at the moment, d'Orsay
said, " Voila la difference entre une bonne bouche et une
mauvaise haleine."

Lord Allen was a confirmed cockney. During the
latter part of his life it was said his only walk was from
White's to Crockford's over the way and back again.
It was also said that he was so accustomed to the roar
of the London traffic, that to get him to sleep at Dover,
where he was visiting Lord Alvanley, that nobleman
hired a hackney coach to drive in front of his window at
the inn all night, and sent out the boots at proper
intervals to call the time and the weather, like the
London watchmen.

The Earl of Sefton was hardly a beau, but he was
a very prominent member of White's during the Beau
period. The Earl was one of the founders of the
original Coaching Club, and drove a splendid team of
bays. He was one of the very few tall men who have
suffered from a deformity of the spine, but this notwith-
standing, he was an excellent horseman, and often to be
seen riding in the park.

Lord Sefton was a great epicure, and prided himself
on the invention of a plat made of the soft roe of the
mackerel. He was one of the chief victims at Crockford's,

198 The History of White s.

and is believed to have lost as much as two hundred thou-
sand pounds at that establishment. And it is said that
his successor honoured an acceptance of his for forty
thousand pounds, held by Crockford, and presented at
the Earl's death. The property in the neighbourhood
of Liverpool and Manchester which he sold to meet his
losses at play would to-day be valued at millions of
money.

Amateur coaching was much in vogue at this period,
as a fashionable amusement. A colleague of Lord
Sefton's in the Coaching Club was another dandy of
White's, the Marquis of Worcester, afterwards the
seventh Duke of Beaufort. The Marquess seems to
have been popular with all classes, a great ladies' man,
and one of the first figures at Almack's. Unlike many
of his dandy contemporaries, he was a great sportsman.

Another celebrated whip was Lord Onslow, the
" Tommy Onslow " of the doggerel :

" What can Tommy Onslow do ?
Oh, he can drive a chaise and two.
Can Tommy Onslow do no more ?
Yes, he can drive a phaeton and four."

Ball Hughes, the " Golden Ball," was a notable
dandy of White's. He succeeded to a fortune of forty
thousand a year on the death of his uncle. Admiral
Hughes, whose name he took. Hughes must have been
the most inveterate gambler of his day ; he was intro-

.«

/>^Wm

)

.ag^^^^^^

THOMAS, SECOND EARL OF WILTON.
MR. ALFRED MONTGOMERY.

MR. CHARLES TYRWHITT.
CAPTAIN EDMOND ST. JOHN MILDMAY.

FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THB POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

After the Original Drawings by Count D'Orsay.

The History of White s. 199

duced to Louis Napoleon as the " Wellington des
joueurs." Failing cards or dice, he would play pitch
and toss for large sums, and it is recorded that he and
Lord Petersham were found asleep on the floor, after
passing an entire night playing battledore and shuttle-
cock for high stakes.

Hughes seems to have been an amiable, good-
natured fellow, and universally popular. He formed
himself on the model of his Colonel of the 7th Hussars,
the Earl of Uxbridge. An extremely handsome man.
he had singularly bad luck in his love affairs. He
was rejected by three ladies in succession, his Colonel's
daughter, Lady Jane Paget, Miss Floyd, afterwards
Lady Peel, and Lady Caroline Churchill. Hughes
finally married a Spanish lady of the ballet, named
Mercadotti, whom he took off so secretly and suddenly
that the audience at the Opera were awaiting her
performance at the time of her disappearance.

Hughes greatly injured his immense fortune by
play, but he retrieved it in part by the lucky purchase
of Oatlands, the place of the Duke of York in Surrey,
which became valuable as building land. He died in
affluence abroad.

Of other dandies we cannot speak at length.
The City dandy, "Apollo" Raikes, so called because
he rose in the east and set in the west, the butt of
the other dandies, and the author of the " Journal" of

200 The History of White s.

which we have fully availed ourselves, was a prominent
member of White's before his financial affairs drove
him abroad. Here, too, are Berkeley Craven, who shot
himself when Lord Jersey's Middleton won the Derby
in 1836; "Poodle" Byng, "Kangaroo" Cooke, Sir
Joseph Copley, Sir George Warrender, Dawson Damer,
Henry de Ros, and many other names familiar to
readers of the social history of the first part of the
present century. The traditions of the dandy brother-
hood were preserved by these men, and handed on to
another generation, with whom they expired.

If we are to believe contemporaries, the extinction
of the dandy cult is not a matter of regret. The
dandies, as a class, were neither amiable nor beloved.
Members of White's, still living, declare that the
tyranny of the dandies to those outside their circle is
hardly conceivable by the present generation, and the
general eff^ect of their reign was to make the Club
insufferably dull to the great majority of their fellow
members. We may take leave of these gentlemen by
again quoting Captain Gronow, a contemporary, but
who, it is fair to say, was never admitted to the dandy
circle at White's, and may have been a little prejudiced.

" How insufferably odious," says the Captain,
writing in i860, "with a few brilliant exceptions, were
the dandies of forty years ago. They were generally
middle-aged, some even elderly men, had large appetites,

■^ V

M-^L^

C/^^y^f-^i'^'-

JAMES, SECOND EARL OF MALMESBURY. GEORGE, TENTH EARL OF WINCHILSEA.
LORD GEORGE BENTINCK. MR. C. GREVILLE.

FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

After the Original Drawings by COUNT D'Orsay.

The History of Whitens. 201

gambled freely and had no luck, and why they arrogated
to themselves the right of setting up their fancied
superiority on a self-raised pedestal, and despising their
betters, Heaven only knows. They hated everybody
and abused everybody, and would sit together in White's
bow window or the pit boxes at the Opera. They
swore a good deal, never laughed, had their own
particular slang, looked hazy after dinner, and had most
of them been patronised at one time or other by
Brummell or the Prince Regent."

There are several points of difference between the
bets recorded at White's during the first half of this
century and those of a century earlier, noticed in a
former chapter. The most striking is in the amounts
staked. Bets of a hundred guineas and over occur only
at rare intervals ; the majority are for sums ranging
from one to twenty-five. The increase of their friends'
families is still a favourite subject with members, but,
as we have seen, there is much more reference to
passing events in the Betting Book than formerly.

Some of these bets are of a vague character.
Here, for instance, Mr. Talbot bets " a certain gentleman
a certain sum, that a certain event does not take place
within a certain time." On the other hand, there is a
pleasing comprehensiveness about Mr. Butler's under-
taking to name the winners of the Derby and Oaks,
and the new Bishop. Then we find Lord Alvanley

202 The History of Whitens.

" bets Mr. Goddard five guineas that Mr. G. Talbot
does not die a natural death." Mr. Talbot retaliates
by recording his opinion that " Lord Alvanley is not
worth three shillings this day two years. If a three-
shilling token," says a note, "a drawn bet."

The notes are laconic, and often significant. One
draws attention to the fact that Mr. Brummell's bets are
still unpaid, and we are told in another that Colonel Cooke
(a party to numerous wagers at this time), is " bankrupt,
and pays a shilling in the pound."

A distressed Baronet is the subject of a couple of
curious wagers. Lord Alvanley bets Sir Joseph Copley
five guineas " that a certain Baronet understood between
them " will be in very embarrassed circumstances within
a given date. " If he is observed to borrow small change
of the chairmen or waiters," runs the bet, " Sir Joseph to
be reckoned to lose." This may have been the " certain
worthy Baronet " about whom Mr. Methuen bets Colonel
Stanhope ten to one that he " does not of necessity part
with his gold ice pails before this day twelvemonth.
The ice pails being found at a pawnbroker's will not
entitle Colonel Stanhope to receive his ten guineas."

When George IV. ascended the throne of his fathers,
the movements of Queen Caroline began to attract great
attention. A member of the Club, Charles Greville of
the " Memoirs," tells us that the discussion of the Queen's
affairs became an intolerable nuisance in society, and that

I ^^K>:^i^

J'"

SIR G. WOMBWELL, THIRD BARONET. CAPTAIN J. HOME PURVES.

CHARLES, SIXTH EARL OF TANKERVILLE. RICHARD, FIRST MARQUESS OF WELLESLEY.

FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

After the Original Drawings by COUNT D'Orsav,

4^-

ONE of the RAKESof LONDON. "'

iyTM'ZfM-.H^'wi '

Mr. THOMAS RAIKES.

From the Caricature by Dighton.

The History of White's. 203

no other subject was talked of. " Great sums of money
have been won and lost on the Queen's return," says he,
" for there was much betting at the clubs."

The old King died on the 29th of January, 1820, and
a week later we find Mr. Thomas Raikes betting fifty
guineas with Mr. Horace Beckford "that a certain person
understood will be in England in six months," and many
other bets on the same subject follow. They were soon
determined, for the Queen came to London on the 6th
of June. " I rode as far as Greenwich to meet her," says
Greville. " The road was thronged with an immense
multitude the whole way from Greenwich to Westminster
Bridge. The Queen looked exactly as she did before
she left England, and seemed neither dispirited nor
dismayed. As she passed by White's she bowed and
smiled to the men who were in the window."

204

CHAPTER XIII.

White's under George Raggett — The Candidates' Books — Blackballing by the
Dandies — Probable reason — Expansion of Club Life — Instances of
particular Blackballings — Reaction — G enteral Meeting — The Special
Committee of 1833 — Drastic Changes in Rules — Famous Foreigti
Members of White s — Talleyrand — Contemporary Notice of White's
in "News and Sunday Herald" — Crockford' s—Its effect on the Clubs
— Count d'Orsay.

Looking back to the year 1813, when Raggett took
over the management of White's, we find that the
Club increased its number to five hundred. There was
no change of importance in the rules; but the three
Managers whom we saw appointed under Martindale
were swelled into a Committee of Management, with power
to act for the Club in its dealings with Raggett. The
dinner hour we notice getting gradually later, and the
price of the meal was fixed at seventeen shillings a head
without wine.

The event of the most interest during Raggett's
early management was the opening of the first of the
Candidates' Books in 1813. In these books, as is the
custom in all clubs to-day, the names of the candidate
and his proposer and seconder were entered, and the
result of the ballot recorded. In the first of them the

WILLIAM, SECOND VISCOUNT MELBOURNE.

FROM A DRAWING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By C. Turner, after Hayter.

The History of White s. 205

number of black balls by which a candidate was rejected
was also given, but after a time this was discontinued as
invidious and unnecessary.

The Candidates' Books reveal in a remarkable
manner the height to which blackballing was carried at
White's under the sway of the Dandies. For a single
election recorded during the first twenty years after the
books were opened, there are whole pages of rejections.
" Five balls," " eight balls," " fifteen balls," are the laconic
entries announcing the failure of hundreds of men to gain
entrance to White's every year. Many pages bear
witness to the chagrin of the proposers and seconders of
unsuccessful candidates. Their names are not only
crossed out, but painted out in black ink, or else cut
bodily from the page. The middle column, with its
eternal motto of " five balls, " is the only record of these
ballots.

Politics had nothing to do with these wholesale
rejections. The traditions of White's and Brookes's
during the rivalry of Pitt and Fox doubtless survived in
some measure, and made it natural for a Tory to choose
the former, and a Whig the latter club, for his entrance
to London life ; but it is evident that in a club with
such names on its list as Peel, Grey, Goulburn,
Palmerston, Wellington, Aberdeen, Graham, and
Melbourne, politics did not count for much at the
ballots.

2o6 The History of Whitens.

We think that the ultra exclusiveness of White's
under the Dandies was a protest by those gentlemen
against the great expansion in club life which was
taking place. White's and Brookes's were no longer the
only clubs of importance at the West-end. Boodle's and
Arthur's were attracting numbers of country gentlemen.
The " Sir John's " mustered in such force at the former,
that it is said half the members in the coffee room looked
up when " Sir John's carriage " was announced. The
Guards, dissatisfied with the accommodation and the
company of their old rendezvous at the St. James's
Coffee House, had founded a club of their own.
Wattiers, under the auspices of the Prince Regent, was
attracting many of the gamesters from Brookes's and the
Cocoa Tree. Daubigne's and Graham's were other
clubs of less note, but frequented by men of fashion.
In the midst of this popularisation of clubs and club
life, White's may have resolved to wrap itself closer
than ever in its cloak of exclusiveness. Whatever the
reason, this was the result.

Captain Gronow, speaking of the clubs we have
mentioned, says : " They were all composed almost
exclusively of the aristocracy, and of these White's was
decidedly the most difficult of entry." After looking at
the Candidates' Books there is no difficulty in agreeing with
him. The rank of the candidate seems to have mattered
little — the men by whom he was proposed and seconded

HENRY, THIRD VISCOUNT PALMERSTON.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By F. Bacon, after E. B. Morris,

The History of White's. ifeo7

less. Lord Castlereagh, Lord Duncannon and Lord
Dufferin were each blackballed three times in 1813, Sir
Robert Peel twice in the same year. A little later Lords
Sefton and Alvanley were, as we have seen, both
influential members of the Club, yet their candidates
were rejected time after time. Mr. Berkeley Craven, we
notice, was rejected sixteen times before his final election.
Mr., afterwards Sir George, Wombwell was up nearly
twenty times before he gained entrance to the Club.
Other candidates with less persistence and more diffi-
dence were rejected every season by the score.

The proceedings at the ballots became almost
grotesque. " We must pill that man," a member would
say ; "it will do him good." " We really cannot have
that fellow," said another; " I saw him wearing a white
tie in the evening." Sometimes there were personal
grudges or family quarrels, which kept out candidates
for years. Sir George Wombwell's continued rejection,
for instance, was the result of a vow by one of his
Yorkshire neighbours with whom his family had some
misunderstanding, that, so long as he lived, young
Wombwell should not enter White's. Later, Charles
Greville and Lord George Bentinck had some difference
about a turf transaction. Greville was anxious for the
election of Viscount Brackley, afterwards Earl of
Ellesmere ; Lord George was equally determined that
Viscount Brackley, as Greville's nominee, should remain

2o8 The History of Whitens.

outside the Club. He never failed to attend the ballot
and drop in his black ball.

Lord George was accustomed to take his dinner
very late. He usually dined at the Club at eleven
o'clock, at which hour the ballots also took place. On
one occasion, when Lord Brackley was up for election,
Greville was delighted to find, as he thought, that
Lord George was for once absent. " Its all right this
time," said he, as the ballot box was brought to him ;
" Bentinck's down stairs at dinner, and I shall get
Brackley in at last." "Will you?" said a voice near
him. He had not noticed Lord George, sitting beside
him on the sofa.

Particular ballots often aroused much feeling. The
son of a famous financier was proposed as a member,
and all his friends at the Club attended at the ballot
to support him. As eleven o'clock approached the
Club became abnormally full. Members came into the
drawing room, where the ballot took place, who had
not been seen in the Club for years, and it was soon
evident to the proposer and seconder that they could
not all have come to support their candidate. These
gentlemen took their stand by the ballot box, and
as each of the strangers stepped up to record his
vote, said the one to the other, " Here comes another

assassin."

Incidents of this sort no doubt produced reprisals ;

GEORGE, FOURTH EARL OF ABERDEEN.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OP THE CLUB.

By S. Cousins, after Sir T. Lawrence.

The History of White's. 209

proposers whose candidates were rejected would very
naturally take good care that the nominees of other
members shared the same fate. But it is probable
that the wholesale blackballing which made the difficulty
of entrance to White's notorious, was the work of a
comparatively small band of Dandy reactionaries. It
required very little effort on the part of these gentlemen
to prevent any undue increase in the membership of
White's. The attendance at each ballot of one or two
of them, untroubled with any sentimental weakness for
the feelings of the victims, was sufficient to effect that
purpose.

Whatever the reason, the game went merrily on for
twenty years. The inevitable consequence followed.
The Club became so reduced in numbers that its position
was a source of anxiety to all members not included in
the blackballing faction. How little the doings of the
"assassins " were in sympathy with the Club at large is
evident from a requisition addressed to the Committee in
1833, which demanded a general meeting of the Club to
consider its position.

The general meeting took place in March of that
year, under the presidency of Lord Grantham, and
members were prepared with a heroic remedy for the
existing state of things. The meeting at once did away
with a rule requiring the names of fifteen members to any
proposition altering the rules, and appointed a Special

D D

2IO The History of Whitens.

Committee to sit for a year, with full powers to act as
they thought fit in the interests of the Club. They were
empowered during their year of management to cancel, add
to or revise old rules, and were given absolute authority
to fill up all vacancies in the Club list by ballot amongst
themselves. The members of this Committee were Lord
Sefton, Lord Grantham, Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Foley,
Colonel Lyster, Mr. John Mills and Colonel Berkeley
Drummond.

They at once met, and began their labours by
devoting themselves to filling up vacancies in the Club.
During the season of its year of management this Com-
mittee added nearly a hundred new members to White's,
without overstepping the limit of five hundred already
fixed. It rejected no single candidate ; the names of
any about which the Committee had doubts were carried
forward for consideration by the Club at large.

When, punctually at the expiration of their year of
office, the recommendations of these gentlemen were
accepted by the Club in general meeting, it must have
been evident to the blackballers that their game was up.
We have seen that one black ball had been an exclusion
to a candidate throughout the whole period in which
there is any record of election at White's. The Committee
of 1833 softened this regulation. Since that time two
balls have been necessary to reject him.

Another rule of great importance, directed against

THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE CANNING.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By C. Turner, after Sir Thomas Lawrence.

.^_.i»r

The History of Whites. 2ii

the efforts of the blackballers, was one which added to
the limited powers of the Standing Committee authority
to suspend the ordinary ballots by the Club, and fill up
ten vacancies in the list by ballot among themselves, if,
on the first of June, twenty or more vacancies had
occurred in the membership of White's.

These rules were not allowed to pass without a final
protest by the reactionaries. A little more than a month
after they had been adopted by the Club, the Committee
received a requisition to rescind the latter one. This
they declined to do. A minute points out that the rule
was made to " prevent the Club from falling again into
the same state in which it was in March, 1833," and they
refused to take upon themselves "the responsibility of
rescinding it."

The rule never was rescinded ; it was the first step
towards placing the election of members entirely in the
hands of a Committee, as is the case to-day. This and
other enactments of the Committee of 1833 brought the
Club safely through a crisis in its history, and they mark
the inevitable swing of the pendulum from the excesses
of the blackballers of 1813-33.

Another rule of the 1833 Committee was one which
admitted without entrance fee, as supernumerary members
of the Club, all Foreign Ministers accredited to the Court
of St. James's. This rule added some interesting names
to the Club list. The first Minister admitted under it

212 The History of White's.

was the famous Talleyrand. It would be superfluous to
say much here about this celebrated man, who, beginning
life as a priest of the Catholic Church, preserved his
neck, and made a vast fortune, amidst the turbulence of
the revolutions, empires and monarchies of the France of
his day. There is an interesting passage in Raikes'
" Journal," which tells us of Lord Alvanley reading the
manuscript of the Prince's " Memoirs," while visiting
him at the Chateau Valenqaye : " The Memoirs of
Talleyrand," said Lord Alvanley, "whenever published,
must be a valuable acquisition to the history of Europe
and to the study of human nature." These memoirs,
lately published, which the world awaited with great
interest, have not fulfilled expectations.

Talleyrand's good sayings have been quoted indefi-
nitely. A bitter one was that in which he replied to the
inquisitive Girardin, who suffered from an ugly squint.
" Comment vont les affaires. Prince?" asked De Girardin.
" Comme vous voyez, Gdndral, tout de travers," said
Talleyrand. A funny one was his advice to Count
Flahault, who also came to White's under the Ambassa-
dor's rule. Flahault was very bald, and expressed a
desire to find a rare present for a lady of his acquaintance.
"Give her a lock of your hair," said Talleyrand.

In the " News and Sunday Herald " of December
loth, 1835, appears an account of an interview of a
representative of that paper with some gentleman pro-

CHARLES, SECOND EARL GREY.

FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By T. Cousins, after vSir T. Lawrence.

The History of White s: 2 1 3

fessing an intimate acquaintance with life at White's in
that year. We have no means of knowing who this
gentleman was, but we quote his account of the Club as
an early specimen of the reported interview which has
since become so common in journalism, and as an
interesting, though perhaps somewhat imaginary, account
of White's in 1835.

This gentleman had apparently supplied similar
information as to the doings at other clubs at the time.
This particular essay appears under the heading " The
Clubs of London, No. II.— White's " :—

" You rather bored me about Brookes's when we last
talked on this subject," says the interviewer ; " pray what
is that building at the opposite side, at the corner of
Jermyn Street, where one sees so many well-dressed men
at the window ?"

"That is White's Club House, called in the olden
time — I speak of sixty years ago— White's Chocolate
House. White's was formerly, and indeed until three or
four years ago, the grand rendezvous of the Tory party,
but it has since been in a measure superseded by the
Carlton, where the Party congregate under the new name
of Conservative."

" Is White's, then, no longer Tory ? "

" Very nearly as much so as ever, for there are not
above a dozen Whigs or Liberals among the members.
Previous to 1827 White's was composed of the ^/ite of

214 The History of White's.

the Liverpool majorities of both Houses, but in that year
Canning became Prime Minister, and as he was supported
by a number of Whigs, who opened the door of Brookes's
to a few Liberal Tories, so the Liberal Tories, not to be
outdone, opened the doors of White's to a few stray
Whigs."

" And who were these stray Whigs, as you call
them, who thus got admitted to White's ?"

"Why, there were my Lords Cowper, Tankerville
and Sefton, Paul Methuen, called by the wags at White's
the Emperor Paul, and a few others such as Tom
Duncombe and Alvanley, who are more bon vivants than
politicians."

Many of these "stray Whigs" were members of
White's long before 1827, and their admittance to the
Club was in no way connected with politics. Sir Paul
Methuen was elected quite at the beginning of the
century. Lord Alvanley in 18 14, Lord Sefton in 181 8, Mr.
Duncombe in 1821. Against this gentleman's opinion
of the political character of White's, we may quote
such a prominent member as Mr. Thomas Raikes on the
same subject. Writing in 1832 of the foundation of the
Carlton, he says : " The object is to have a counterT
balancing meeting to Brookes's, which is purely a Whig
reunion ; White's, which was formerly devoted to the
other side, being now of no colour, and frequented
indiscriminately by all."

LORD GEORGE BENTINCK.

rROM AN BNGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

By S. W. Reynolds, after Samuel Lane.

The History of White's. 215

We proceed with the article in the " News and
Sunday Herald " : —

" Have these men any important influence in the
Club ? "

" Not in the least. Lord Cowper is greatly liked as
a quiet, gentlemanly, well-informed man ; so is my Lord
Tankerville. As to my Lord Sefton, his bustling news-
seeking air, his relish for and knowledge of good cookery,
render him everywhere rather a favourite. Methuen,
too, is a man who loves good cheer, and he is borne
with, notwithstanding his shrill voice, egregious vanity,
and extreme opinions. Tom is a madcap whom one
cannot be vexed with ; and as to that pleasant but too-fat
peer, ' Age cannot wither him, nor custom stale his
infinite variety.' He is received with open arms ; but it
would be wrong to suppose that these men exercise any
influence in the Club. The true Tories of the establish-
ment, whenever they talk over politics with such of the
Whigs as may be of the Club, of course discuss them
with courtesy and good humour, and without any of the
asperity of party As to Lord Alvanley, they look
upon him as a sort of tertizint quid, before whom it is
allowable to say anything ; but the others rarely drop in,
unless to hear, on particular occasions, what certain of
the Conservative leaders think on a subject which starts
up suddenly — such, for instance, as Burdett's letter to
the 'Times,' or Raphael's first epistle on the Carlow

2i6 The History of White's .

affair, or a version of a story or public event, which is
more authentic at White's than Brookes's."

"Would it be exact to say that White's is an
exclusively Tory Club ? "

"Why, no ; for the reasons I have just been stating
to you. There are, perhaps, a dozen men not Tories
who belong to it; but, for the rest, its members are
exclusively Tory — men on town, with no political
opinions, or who do not give themselves the trouble
of forming any ; but if these fine gentlemen were driven
to the necessity of pronouncing themselves, there can be
no doubt that they would, to a man, declare for the
Tories."

" Is White's, then, a fashionable Club ? "

" Extremely so ; indeed, after Crockford's, I should
say it was the most fashionable Club in England, though
there was formerly, and there is now, an indisposition to
let very young men into it. The famous bow window,
however, in St. James's Street, discloses during the
season some of the best-dressed men of the day : the
Chesterfields, the Foresters, the Ossultons, the Dawson
Damers, the Aliens, the Wombwells, the Castlereaghs,
the Beauchamps, Lygons, &c."

" But do any men of political eminence belong
to it ? "

" Oh, yes ; there are the Duke of Wellington, Lords
Aberdeen, Ellenborough, Rosslyn, Sir Robert Peel, Sir

WILLIAM, FIFTH DUKE OF PORTLAND.

FROM A DKAWING IN THE POSSESSION OP THE CLUB.

The History of White's. 217

G. Murray, Lord Francis Egerton, WharnclifFe, Harrowby,
Sandon, Canterbury, Ashley, Sir G. Clark, Mr. Herries,
Mr. George Dawson, &c."

" Does Peel ever go there ? "

" Yes, frequently ; on a Wednesday when out of
office, and oftener still on a Saturday. The late
Speaker, too, often visited the Club on Saturdays and
Sundays."

" Does much play go on ? "

" Not so much as formerly, though there is often a
rubber of whist, and sometimes dcarte. For play, how-
ever, you must go opposite, to Crockford's. White's is
more a Club of political gossip and private scandal than
a gambling Club. Among the political gossips, the
greatest are George Dawson, that most disagreeable of
men, Yonham, Charles Ross, Thomas Sherlock Gooch,
and Billy Holmes, who does not now go there so much
as formerly. As raconteurs, there are Alvanley, the slyly
solemn Allen, Archibald Macdonald, Tom Duncombe,
and sometimes the Emperor Paul and my Lord Sefton."

" Are political measures and motions ever arranged
at White's?"

" Yes, just in the same manner as at Brookes's ; but
since the Reform Bill has passed there are comparatively
very few members of the Lower House at White's ;
indeed, so scarce are M.P.'s, even during the sessions,
that it is sometimes difficult to get a frank there ; and

E E

2i8 The History of Whites.

now it would be impossible, unless for a stray peer who
drops in occasionally. There is a woful falling-ofif in the
number of country gentlemen ; and, besides, the Carlton
Club has wofully injured White's."

" How is that ? "

" Why, White's, like Brookes's, is a very old and,
therefore, a very dear Club, and has few of the appliances
and means of more modern Clubs. For instance, it has
neither warm baths nor dressing rooms, nor can you
have a breakfast or dinner in the same style of comfort
and economy as at the United Service, the Naval, the
Union, the Travellers, or even at that philosophic dirty-
shirt concern called the Athenaeum. In truth, it is meant
as a conversational exchange, where you may write your
letters on exquisite satin post, with Toussaint's best
wax candles, for the men of W^hite's love luxury too
much to patronise the lamps which the unwashed
and filthy-fingered litterati of the Athenaeum so much
delight in."

" Have you a good supply of papers and books at
White's ? "

"A tolerably fair supply of papers, but no books,
excepting a few reviews and magazines. And as to news-
papers and periodicals, no one at the tip-top Clubs reads
either the one or the other, I myself have heard Burdett
say (laying hold of the ' Standard '), ' Lord ! I never
knew there was a paper of that name ' ; and, strange

^^w^Bwiimi.iiijJlP, I'liwijuiii iium mi^BWPBi^mHI

7" m^

^'^^^^2/^^

^^*t^ £7lCtXot^

COLONEL J. GURWOOD. THOMAS, FIRST EARL OF LICHFIELD.

MR. GEORGE HERBERT. VISCOUNT CANTELUPE.

From Lithographs in the possession of the Club, after the original Drawings Ijy Count D'Orsay.

The History of Whites. 219

enough, I have often seen him reading Cobbett very
attentively. The most relentless reader of newspapers
at the St. James's Club is a peer with as pretty an Irish
brogue as O'Connell — Daniel."

"Who do you consider the best-dressed man at
White's ? You say there are some well-dressed men
among them."

" Colonel Dawson Damer is, to my mind, the most
gentlemanly dressed man in the Club."

"Is that the man who was second to Alvanley in the
affair with Morgan O'Connell ? "

" The very same."

"And are they all, then, dandies at White's?"

" No ; Bonham, Peel's great confidant, is one of the
slovenliest men in England ; and Holmes is a very filthy

pig-"

" Are any literary men members of White's ? "

" None, except Croker. They are considered as
vermin in the fashionable Clubs. It is not as chez vous,
where literary men are courted, and are (to use the happy
language of the 'Times') 'presentable, dinnerable, waltz-
able.' In our fashionable Clubs they are thought canaille.
Moore, it is true, is a member of Brookes's — a very new
one, however ; but Moore is a Whig as well as a poet.
So, too, is Rogers ; but Rogers is a banker as well as a
Whig ; so, too, was the Hon. W. Spencer, but he
was a man of birth and blood, as well as a person

220 The History of White's.

of taste. Horace Walpole was of Brookes's, but he
could not be called an author by profession."

"Are any foreigners members of White's?"

" None, that I am aware of. Foreigners are for the
most part of the Travellers', or of Crockford's."

" What character has Peel at White's ? "

" They don't like him a bit, though they do him
much lip service. The fact is, Peel is a cold-hearted,
plausible, specious humbug ; but, there is not much talk
against him in the Club, for three of his brothers and
four of his most intimate friends are members."

"Has not the eldest son of the Duke of Cleveland
seceded from Brookes's, and become a member of
White's and the Carlton ? "

" I believe Lord Darlington is of White's, and
know he is no longer of the Whig party."

" Is Lord Stanley or Sir J. Graham of White's ?"

" No."

" Are there any scenes connected with White's ? "

" None ; almost all the present fellows of White's
are Whigs or ex Whigs, and their debauches never
proceed beyond a few bottles of burgundy or champagne.
A few years ago there was a young guardsman of the
Club (and a Whig, too) who used to get drunk on small
beer, but he is no longer in it, and it is recorded of Peel,
that he used, some eighteen or twenty years ago, to draw
caricatures of the passers-by with Vesey Fitzgerald.

'•^W^"!^,

■/f:"//'"

■/

THE HON. G. BARRINGTON. THE HON. C. WELD FORESTER.

HENRY, SEVENTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT. THE HON. AUGUSTUS VILLIERS.

PROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THE POSSESSION OF THB CLUB.

After the Original Drawings by Count D'Orsay.

Tfie History of White's. 221

But these days are now past. If it were not for the
quaint stories of Allen, the drollery of Alvanley, the
gamesome twaddle of Wombwell, the noisy gaiety of
Master Tom, and the hollow sepulchral note of Sefton,
the Club would be as dull and decorous as ditchwater,
for there is little fellowship and no heart within the walls.
I must, however, say for the Tories of White's, that
whenever any one of them has a motion on in the
Commons, his brother clubbists go down, not only to
vote with him, but to cheer him, and you cannot conceive
of what value the latter service is to a young speaker.
As to the Whigs, they never go down to support each
other, and they never cheer a young man; on the
contrary, there is the foolish .... the pert coxcomb
.... and the lugubrious jackanapes .... who, out
of good will to our excellent Ministers shall be name-
less, behind the Speaker's Chair, to cough, or laugh,
or sneer him down. When Lord Althorp led the
House, he was frequently obliged to reprimand these
ill-natured men, who are held in contempt by all parties ;
and, by none more than the honest Whigs and straight-
forward Radicals."

The concluding allusion to ill-natured men is comic
from a writer who has filled columns with remarks
about pert coxcombs, lugubrious jackanapes and specious
humbugs. We do not think this gentleman could
have been the companion of men who ever met at

22 2 The History of White's.

White's. The tone of his communications to the
reporter, and his mention of several men as members
who were never elected, drives us to the conclusion that
this article is one of those interesting outside references
to the Club which we have had occasion to notice
several times during the course of our history.

Crockford's, which the writer mentions as the
head-quarters of high play, was at this time a very
important institution in fashionable life at the West-end.
It was the speculation of a man who gave his name
to the club, and who had begun life as a fishmonger
near Temple Bar. Benjamin Crockford seems to have
been a sporting character from the first. While in the
fish business he was accustomed to stake a few shillings
nightly at a low gaming house kept by a George Smith
in King's Place ; later he was lucky in a turf transaction.
His first venture as a gaming house proprietor was the
purchase, for a hundred pounds, of a fourth share in a
hell at No. 5, King Street. His partners here were men
named Abbott, Austin and Holdsworth, and their opera-
tions were not above suspicion. Afterwards Crockford,
in partnership with two others, opened a French hazard
bank> at 81, Piccadilly, and here again there was foul
play. The bank cleared ;^20o,ooo in a very short time ;
false dice were found on the premises and exhibited in
a shop window in Bond Street for some days, and
Crockford was sued by numbers of his victims, but

)

-»«^ '

ULICK, FIRST MARQUESS OF CLANRICAKDE. ADMIRAL H. S. ROUS.

RICHARD, SIXTH VISCOUNT POWF.RSCOURT. THE HON. C. SPENCER COWPER.

FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

After the Original Drawings by Count D'Orsay.

The History of Whitens. 223

took care to compromise every action before it came
into Court.*

With a large sum of money gained in these trans-
actions, Crockford, still known as "The Fishmonger,"
started the famous Crockford's Club at No. 50, James's
Street, now the Devonshire Club. Gambling, pure and
simple, was the object of the establishment ; there was no
pretence of any other. Hazard was the raison d'etre of
the place, and there it reached a height never known,
even in the palmy days of White's and Brookes's. " It is
no exaggeration to say," says Gronow, " that ' Crockey's '
absorbed the entire ready money of the contemporary
generation of men of fashion and fortune."

We have mentioned the losses of Lord Sefton and
of Mr. Ball Hughes at Crockford's ; their cases were not
at all exceptional. Mr. George Payne told Sir Augustus
Webster, a present member of White's whom he saw at
Eton, that he remembered meeting his grandfather Sir
Godfrey on the steps of Crockford's, who told him that
he had just experienced "a facer." The "facer" was
the loss of ninety thousand pounds at a sitting.

The establishment of Crockford's considerably
affected the other Clubs. The astute proprietor of the
establishment was nominally in partnership with " two

* It is only right to say that there was never any suspicion of
unfair play at " Crockford's," where the bulk of his fortune was made.

2 24 The History of Whites.

sporting noblemen," and it was announced from the first
that members of White's, Brookes's, Boodle's, and the
Guards' Clubs were considered eligible for the new club.
Crockford got together a " Committee of Management,"
composed of well-known gentlemen from these Clubs ;
but their functions were restricted to the election of
members, and to the framing of rules connected with
social matters at the club. With the regulation of the
hazard tables or its profits, the Committee had nothing
whatever to do.

Thus started in St. James's Street, Crockford did all
he could to make his club attractive. His suppers were
of the first quality, and supplied gratis. The celebrated
chef Ude presided over the cookery, and there was no
lack of wines of the finest vintages. Crockford's patrons
were all men of rank and breeding, the utmost decorum
was observed, and society at the club was of the most
pleasant and fashionable character. There are members
of White's who remember Crockford's in its glory.
There was no smoking room, "and in the summer even-
ings," says one of them, "we used to stand outside in
the porch, drinking champagne and seltzer, with our
cigars, and looking at the people going home from parties
or the Opera. White's, except in the afternoons, was
deserted, members naturally going across the way, where
there was a first-rate supper with wine of unexceptionable
quality provided free of cost." Crockford was well

■ '^

£jk

^' ~^4

1 i-

x^^yfl

R^'

mjlm

'■■''■'--.

y^.

/^^^^//'^

MR. HENRY LUTTRELL. mr. FREDERICK BYNG.

MR. BALL HUGHES. JOSHUA, SIXTH VISCOUNT ALLEN.

FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THB POSSESSION OF THE CLUB.

After the Original Drawings by Count D'Orsay.

BT-

The History of White's. 225

repaid for his liberality in these matters. By the profits
of the hazard table he realised in the course of a few
years the enormous sum of a million two hundred
thousand pounds.

Prominent members of White's who were usually to
be met at Crockford's were Lord Anglesey, Lord Raglan,
Colonel Armstrong, Mr. John Wilson Croker, Sir
Joseph Copley, Lord Alvanley, Lord Sefton, Lord
Allen, Mr. Ball Hughes, Mr. George Payne, Lord
Chesterfield. Talleyrand, Prince Esterhazy, and General
Alava were noted members of the corps diplomatique, and
the Duke of Wellington often put in an appearance.

Another very prominent figure at Crockford's was
the Comte d'Orsay. The Count, to whom we are
indebted for many of the portraits of his contemporaries
amongst the members of White's, made several attempts
to enter the Club, but without success. He was cer-
tainly very popular amongst the men of his day, and it was
probably the irregularity of his domestic affairs which
kept him out of White's.

D'Orsay was an officer of the Corps de Garde, and
in the best Parisian society, when he met Lady Blessing-
ton. He formed a very strong attachment to that lady,
at once threw up his commission, and followed her to
Rome. The fact of having resigned just before the French
expedition to Spain in 1823 made his reception by his
brother officers at Paris on his return from Rome a very

F F

2 26 The History of Whitens.

cool one. He then followed Lady Blessington to
England, and married Lord Blessington's daughter by a
former wife. This marriage was not a success ; the pair
soon separated, and D'Orsay, after the death of Lord
Blessington, took up his abode at Gore House.

The parties at Gore House were frequented by all
the men of the day famous in art and literature, as well
as by the leading wits. Louis Napoleon, another
distinguished man who is said to have longed in vain for
admittance to White's, dined at Lady Blessington's two
or three times a week during his residence in England.
The circumstances of the Gore House mdnage prevented
many ladies being of the company ; among the few,
however, was Mrs. Disraeli, the wife of the statesman.

D'Orsay was soon over head and ears in debt, and
eventually was only able to appear to the outside world
at the Opera on Saturday evenings, just as it emptied at
midnight, after the Queen's writ had ceased to run. The
well-known portraits of his acquaintances were drawn for
Mitchell, the proprietor of the theatrical box office, and
the lithographic copies were sold by him at five shillings
apiece, as a means of somewhat reducing his bill against
the Count for Opera boxes.

^y£»-t-'^f.^C^cc-y

LORD FREDERICK FITZCLARENCE. SIR RAINALD KNIGHTLEY, THIRD BART.

GENERAL SIR WILLOUGHBY COTTON. COUNT D'ORSAY.

From the Lithographs by Count D'Orsav in the possession of the Club.

227

CHAPTER XIV.

Uneventful period at White s under George Raggett — His death — Henry
Raggett— Complaints to the Committee— Henry Raggett's death —
Amicable Relations between the Club and the Raggett Family
acknowledged — The elder Percival — Smoking at Whitens — Resistance
by the Old School — The Effect of their Action — The Prince of Wales
and White s — Unsettled State of Affairs under the younger Percival —
The Present Management,

Our history has now arrived at a period which presents
very little for comment. The troublous times which we
glanced at in the last chapter were set at rest by the
enactments of the Committee of 1833, and were succeeded
by a period of calm, in which nothing occurred to ruffle
the even course of events at White's under the manage-
ment of George Raggett. There is a business-like and
prosperous air about the entries in the Club records
during the Thirties ; the Club had been filled again by the
new rules, and from the absence of any record of
communications between the Committee and the " Master
of the house," it is clear that Raggett was giving satis-
faction and doing well at the Club.

Raggett died in 1844, possessed of a decent fortune,
which included the freehold of the Club premises.
Shortly before his death he had handed over the
management to his son Henry, on a year of probation.

2 28 The History of Whites.

The young man's management during that year had been
satisfactory to all parties, and the old gentleman's death
occurring in the meantime, his executors, with the con-
currence of the Club Committee, granted a lease of the
house to Henry Raggett. We may note that by a stipu-
lation in his will George Raggett gave the Committee a
refusal of a lease of the Club premises, in case his son
failed in his trial, or chose another walk of life.

Under the first years of Henry Raggett's manage-
ment the uneventful period at White's continued. There
is nothing to chronicle. We notice in 1848 that the Club
in general meeting decided, in answer to an appeal by
the Rector of St. James's for the local charities, to add
five members to the list, and to devote one-half of the
entrance fees to the good Vicar's fund. They bound
themselves at the same time to a future annuity of fifty
pounds for the same purpose. But this decision was dis-
pleasing to the Standing Committee. These gentlemen
discovered an informality in the general meeting, and
rescinded the resolution. As a compromise they ordered
a list of the charities to be placed in the morning room,
and we have no doubt that members' subscriptions
supplied the place of the sum irregularly voted by the
general meeting.

Things went on much as usual until 1850. In that
year the Club received a letter from Raggett, stating that
"circumstances had recently occurred, which, in his

Pi
W

iz;
w
w

iz;

P4 w

o
w

K
o

a
o
O

The History of White's. 229

humble judgment, rendered it desirable that a change
should shortly be made in the management of the Club."

The nature of the circumstances is not stated.
Raggett in very general terms declared his opinion that
the welfare of the Club was concerned in his proposal,
and concluded his moderate and respectful letter, with
an earnest appeal to the Committee for their advice and
assistance. At the same time he protested his gratitude
for " the long encouragement and liberal support which
had enabled his father and himself to maintain the
high reputation and respectability which the Club had
attained."

At the meeting called to consider the matter, Raggett
attended and made a statement, but the circumstances
which called forth his letter were still left unrecorded.
The meeting refused to accept his resignation, and
appointed a sub- committee to confer with "Mr. Raggett
as to the future management of the Club."

We can give a shrewd guess at the nature of
Raggett's disquietude by the recommendations of this
sub-committee. They reported : " Mr. Raggett has
suggested that he be not required to make advances of
money for any game of cards or play, or to give the
unlimited credit for house dinner accounts, which has
hitherto exposed him to considerable pecuniary loss."
The Club agreed with these suggestions, and for the
future required members to pay for any advances of

230 The History of White's.

card counters before leaving the house. They also
limited credit for house dinner accounts to the liberal
term of six months.

The matter did not rest here. A few weeks later
the following notice was placed on the chimney-piece of
the morning room :

" A report having prevailed that Mr. Raggett was
lately obliged to proceed at law against a member for a
debt of ;i^i40 advanced at play, and that payment was
resisted by a plea that the money was not recoverable as
having been lost at a common gambling house, we, the
undersigned members of White's, in the event of the
above-mentioned report being true, and no sufficient
explanation having been given of the affair, request the
Committee, if the person alluded to is still a member, to
write to him desiring that he will withdraw his name,
having publicly brought such an unfounded charge
against the Club.

(Signed) "W. Lyon.

G. Bentinck.
Redesdale.

F"oLEY.

Philip Dundas.

Q. Dick."
After due enquiry into this unpleasant matter it
appeared that the solicitor employed by the member
referred to had been alone responsible for the offensive

JOHN, FIRST EARL REDESDALE.

FROM A DRAWING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB,

The History of White's. 231

plea. The Committee reported that "they find great
irregularity and delay had taken place in the settlement
of the account, which was only liquidated after the
commencement of an action by Mr. Raggett. The
member in question has distinctly denied any intention to
evade the ultimate discharge of the debt on the ground of
illegality, and the Committee see no reason to believe
that he was cognizant of the plea put forward by the
solicitor ' that the money sought to be recovered was lost
in a common gambling house.' "

No other event marks the management of White's
by Henry Raggett. That management ended with his
death in 1859, and with him died the last of the proprietors
of the Club who were also the owners of the freehold of
the Club building. The conduct of the business of
White's by the Raggetts had been satisfactory to the
Club throughout, and in some communications with the
solicitors of Henry Raggett's sisters, to whom the
property passed on his death, we find the satisfactory
nature of the relations between the family and the Club
placed on record. The Committee of 1859 " begged to
express their sense of the satisfactory manner in which
the business of the Club has so long been conducted by
Mr. Raggett and his father."

Immediately after their brother's death, the Miss
Raggetts began to look out for a Manager for the Club
who might be acceptable to the Committee. They found

232 The History of White's.

this gentleman in Mr. Percival of Wansford. There was
some enquiry at the time as to the terms upon which the
Miss Raggetts would grant a lease to the Club itself; but
the proposal came to nothing, and in June, 1859, Percival
succeeded Henry Raggett as Manager of White's.

Under Percival's early management affairs at
White's proceeded smoothly, but events were ap-
proaching which were to have a very marked effect on
its history. With these events the practice of smoking
at White's had much to do, and we may here glance at
the progress of the habit at the Club.

There is no allusion to tobacco in the Club
records until the year 1845, when it was decided to
provide a room for smokers. Up to that year, we may
take it, the cigar had not been seen at White's. Snuff
was the only form of tobacco with which the beaux of a
preceding generation had regaled themselves, but by
this time smoking was becoming general among the
younger men of fashion. It was still incorrect to be
seen with a cigar in the streets, but the habit was
growing a common one in private, although, even at
country houses, it was usual for the smokers to retire
to the stables or kitchens. The great influx of
foreigners to the Exhibition of 1851 removed the ban
upon smoking in public. Among these foreigners were
numbers of men of rank and assured position, who were
constantly to be seen smoking in the streets and other

.^.j^':'

MR. H. PERCIVAL.

Manager of White's, 1859-82.

FROM A FHOTOGKAPH.

Jj'

\jft*,,-«J'!i'^

T^«'^"

THE BOW WINDOW AT WHITE'S.

From a Sketch by A. LuDOVlci.

The History of White's. 233

public places of London. The open practice of the
habit began to be no longer frowned upon, and since
that time, as we know, the cigar or cigarette has
become almost a part of the dress of the man about
town.

The growing popularity of smoking may be seen
reflected in the records of White's. In 1854, for instance,
there were clamours for increased accommodation for
smoking. After some discussion, in which the existence
of an anti-tobacco party at the Club was made quite
clear, it was decided to move the billiard table into the
old house dinner room, and allow smoking there. This
for a time satisfied the smokers, and members of the old
school who objected to the habit, were conciliated by
precautions taken to prevent the fumes reaching the
other rooms of the Club.

In 1859 a proposal was made to allow smoking in
the drawing room, the present coffee room. This was
a bold move on the part of the smokers. The drawing
room at White's was the head-quarters of the party of
decorum, and at that time and afterwards, it was never
entered by a member with his hat on. At the general
meeting which met to consider the question, there was a
trial of strength between the two parties. The Marquess
of Bath proposed the resolution, which was seconded by
Mr. G. Bentinck. The leaders of the opposing party
were Lord Rosslyn and Lord Cawdor. After much

G G

2 34 The History of White's.

discussion the proposal was adopted by a majority of
twenty-seven, in a full meeting.

The resolution, however, did not take effect. The
Committee, quite irregularly as it would seem, took the
matter into their own hands, and announced "that, in
deference to the wishes of a large minority of the Club,
the Committee have decided, before carrying out the
resolution, that a survey of the house shall be made to
ascertain whether such accommodation for smoking can
be afforded, as shall be less objectionable to that
minority, and at the same time be satisfactory to the
smokers."

The same year they accepted some proposal of the
trustees of the Raggetts to build a new smoking room ;
but nothing seems to have been done, and for six years
there was continual grumbling by these aggrieved
gentlemen at the poorness of their accommodation.
Requisitions were signed, which however were declared
irregular, and complaints were constantly before the
Committee. The matter was in this position when,
in 1866, the Prince of Wales honoured White's by
signifying his intention of becoming a member of the
Club. His Royal Highness was elected an honorary
member of White's on the 5th of March.

Just at the time of the Prince's entrance the old
question as to smoking in the drawing room was being
re-opened. On the 23rd of March the Committee

s.. *•■'■

.... : SC.. *

>l'^ ■"",. ^U^T^^

"-s^"

>>>^l

';~^^ 1

\V*^»Vt f ,

IN THE COFFEE ROOM AT WHITE'S.

From a Sketch by A. LuDOVici.

The History of Whites. 235

received a requisition for a general meeting to decide
the question, and a date was fixed for the meeting to
take place a month later.

The Club at the time was greatly agitated by the
matter. The smoking party included most of the young
members of White's ; but their opponents spared no
effort to enlist the older members of the Club against
the proposal. For the first time on record, the Com-
mittee sent a circular to each member, requesting his
attendance at the general meeting. Special leave was
obtained from the Head Master of Eton to allow
the Marquess of Huntly, lately elected at White's, to be
present. It would be interesting to know what old
Goodford, who religiously flogged any of the Eton boys
caught smoking, said, when he discovered for what
purpose his pupil had been to London. When the day
arrived, the Club was full of old gentlemen who had not
been seen there for years, and who now put in an appear-
ance to resist what they considered a desecration of the
drawing room. " Where do all these old fossils come
from ? " asked a member. " They come from Kensal
Green," replied Mr. Alfred Montgomery, " and the
hearses are waiting outside to take them back."

Lord Malmesbury presided at the meeting, and a
resolution," That hereafter the members of the Club shall
be permitted to smoke in the drawing room," was moved
by Mr. Bromley Davenport, and seconded by Lord de

236 The History of White's.

Lisle. Lord Wilton, in moving its rejection, was
supported by Lord Cardigan and Lord Dalhousie.
General J. Macdonald and Mr. G. Byng took a prominent
part in opposing the resolution. After much discussion,
it was lost by a majority of twenty-three votes. By
inducing the Club to come to this decision, the old
school of White's, we think, made a vast mistake ;
they certainly took a step which had a great influence
on the subsequent fortunes of the Club.

The Prince of Wales, though, of course, taking no
part in the contest, was himself a smoker, and naturally
interested in the question. His Royal Highness had
married, and was taking his place at the head of society.
Many of the old barriers of caste were in process of
removal, and society was gradually opening its doors to
men who could never have entered it under the old
tyranny of the Dandies. This movement received a
great impulse from the influence of the Prince himself
He was not the man to surround himself with a circle of
personal courtiers, as his predecessors, Frederick and
George, Princes of Wales, had done ; his high sense of
duty, and his genial disposition, made this impossible.
The days of the old exclusiveness were at an end, but
White's might have maintained its unique position if the
older members had been wise enough to make the Club
congenial to the Prince, and to the young men who
were entering life with him. This they failed to do.

^i-v-

l€>^

^^^iismmm

THE LOUNGE.

From a Sketch by A. LuDOVici.

Tfie History of Whitens. 237

The result of their action in the smoking matter
was, that the Prince, though still remaining an honorary
member of White's, began to look elsewhere for accom-
modation which was more to his liking. He interested
himself in the foundation of the Marlborough Club, where,
from the first, smoking was allowed in every room but
that used for dining ; and White's has since shared with
that club and with the Turf Club the position of chief
of the social clubs, which was once exclusively its own.

The decision of White's on the smoking question is
all the more to be regretted, in that the Club saw reason
to reverse that decision only two years after the mischief
had been done. It is true that the resolution did not at
once take effect ; for some extraordinary reason the
trustees of the Raggetts interfered, and asked for a
postponement of the question. But in 1870 the drawing
room was at last thrown open to members who wished
to smoke.

With the appointment of Percival as manager of
the Club the old relations which had existed between the
Raggetts, as owners of the property as well as managers,
came to an end. Under Percival there began a feeling
of insecurity as to the future tenancy of the building.
In 1868 we find a proposal that the place should be
purchased from the Miss Raggetts by the Club; but it
was found that the property was in Chancery, and that
nothing could be done. The Club, still feeling unsettled,

238 The History of White's.

decided to form a fund to provide against eventualities
connected with the tenure of the house. This they
accomplished by raising the entrance fee to nineteen
guineas, ten of which were devoted to the purpose, and
placed in the hands of trustees.

Lord Hartington, the present Duke of Devonshire
(who had undertaken to enquire into matters on behalf
of the Club), reported, in 1870, that he had at last
induced the trustees of the Raggetts to name a price
for the sale of the Club building. This was fixed at
;i^ 60,000. He reported at the same time, that Percival
held an unexpired lease of ten years, at a rental of
;^2,ioo. The Club very naturally refused to entertain
the purchase at any such figure. A reduced offer of
^50,000 made a month later, they also refused.

A year afterwards the place was sold by auction.
With a view to purchase, members of White's had
subscribed for debentures to the amount of ^16,000. At
the auction, the representative of the Club bid ^38,000
for the property, but it was bought by Mr. Eaton, M.P.,
afterwards Lord Cheylesmore, for ;^46,ooo.

This gentleman did not show himself at all anxious
to meet the views of the Club. He refused to sell the
place to the Committee on any terms, but offered a lease
of twenty years at a rent of ^3,000. With ten years of
Percival's lease still to run, these gentlemen did not see
the necessity of coming to any arrangement in the matter.

THE BILLIARD ROOM.

From a Sketch by A. LuDOVici.

The History of Whitens. 239

They contented themselves with entering into an
agreement with Percival, by which he bound himself not
to sub-let the premises, the Committee engaging to keep
up the membership to a minimum of four hundred and
eighty. In a minute at this time the Committee expressed
the hope that by the time the existing lease had expired
" Mr. Eaton would become better informed as to the
resources of the Club, and be prepared to propose more
reasonable terms. If not it would be the duty of the
Committee of that day to secure other suitable premises
for the Club."*

The subsequent management of White's by Percival
requires little comment. It was a period of unrest, during
which other fruitless negotiations were entered into by
the Committee and Mr. Eaton. In July, 1876, the
number of the Club was raised to six hundred, and in the
following year Percival, negotiating on his own account
with Mr. Eaton, announced that he had obtained a new

* Lord Cheylesmore's action towards the Club has often been
commented upon ; it is, however, not true as reported, that he was
influenced in the matter by the fact that he had been blackballed at
White's. Before the purchase of the building he had been a candidate,
but his candidature was not persevered with. Baron Hirsch's purchase
of the house of the Rue Royale Club is a somewhat parallel case. The
Baron however was more considerate, and although he had been
rejected at the club, with characteristic magnanimity he allowed them
to purchase the house from him at a moderate price.

240 The History of Whitens.

lease of thirty years, from 1881, at a rent of ;^3,ooo a
year. In 1882 Mr. Percival died.

The management of White's then passed to his son,
as representative of Mrs. Percival the widow. Young
Percival's conduct of the business of the Club was not a
success, and during six years there was a constant falling
off in the membership. Percival himself became unsettled
in 1885. He reported to the Committee that he had heard
rumours to the effect that the Club was about to break up
and to satisfy him they placed a notice in the morning
room that such rumours were utterly without foundation.

Three years later, in 1888, matters arrived at a
crisis. Mrs. Percival announced her intention of ter-
minating her lease with Lord Cheylesmore, and it was
proposed by the Committee to grant her a sum of ^1,200
in consideration of her carrying on the Club business
until the end of the year. There were various meetings
at which the proposal was discussed, and much was said
on both sides. Eventually it was carried, and negotiations
were entered into with two members of the Club who had
expressed themselves willing to take over the management.
In July of 1888 the management of the Percivals came to
an end by the signing of an agreement for the future
conduct of White's by a member of the club, Mr.
Algernon Bourke.

Of recent changes at White's we do not propose to
speak at length. The state of things at the Club under

THE HONOURABLE ALGERNON BOURKE,

FKOM A FHOTOGUAl'II,

The History of White's. 241

the younger Percival is well within the recollection of
many present members, and it is almost unnecessary
to recall the fact that a lack of enterprise during the few
years of his conduct of the Club brought it dangerously
near extinction. The Club indeed had for some years not
been abreast of the times. During the expansion of Club
life in the early and middle part of the century, the
traditions of its long existence seem to have acted as a
drag upon White's, and the Club was certainly behind
others in some matters of convenience and organization.
The present management may claim to have removed
any such reproach and to have restored White's to its
former position.

The beginning of Mr. Bourke's management was
marked by extensive alterations in the Club building.
Chief among these was the addition of a biHiard room of
very original design. The outer walls of the old billiard
and smoking rooms, which formed the northern and
southern sides of the courtyard, were removed, and the
courtyard itself was covered by an arched glass roof
supported on ionic pillars. The large room thus formed,
though giving perfect accommodation for billiards, is not
dominated by the game. A gallery running along its
eastern end, and connecting the Secretary's office with
the drawing room, is an effective part of the design.

Another structural improvement, made subsequently,
was the conversion of some small rooms at the back of

II H

242 The History of White s.

the morning room into a very comfortable apartment
known as the Lounge, which is much used by members.
Lavatories, dressing rooms, and bath rooms have been
added, and the Club entirely refurnished. In all these
additions and alterations great care has been taken to
preserve the style of the old Club building ; and the glitter
of marble and polished wood, which forms so prominent
a feature of modern decoration, has been excluded at
White's as incongruous with the character of the place.
The walls have been hung with a collection of engraved
portraits of past and present members, chiefly in mezzo-
tint, and which is probably unique. From this collection
our illustrations have been mostly taken.

The changes at White's since 1888 in these and
other matters have had their natural effect. When
Percival gave up the Club, it consisted of no more than
two hundred paying members, and there was not a
single candidate on the books. To-day there are seven
hundred and fifty members of White's, and the Candi-
dates' Book contains the names of some two hundred
and fifty gentlemen awaiting admission. White's, in
fact, at the end of two centuries, has taken a fresh lease
of life, and at the moment of writing we see no reason
why the Club should not look forward to another two
hundred years of existence.

FINIS.

WHITE'S BEFOBC «eCEI»iT CMAMSeS

J A. IS/I t 5 '

5 "T R e e -T

»■
■

*cAu6 or pee-r

WHITE'S BEFORE RECCM-r CHAXGES

PU^fsJ OF UPPER FUOOR

■»■■■■»■■■■<

f fe^

ftcALC OF re en

WHITE'S PRESENT PLAN

CROUNO FLOOR

Sll-UARO

ij O:

PT J/^N/ies' STREET

>CiM.e OP- p-ee-r

NA^HITE'S PRESEMT F'l.A.f^

UPPER FLOOR

GALLERY

1 1

SECRETARY ■

f OPPEW PART or 1

U SMOKINSnODM

DWANVINft

RCO/Vl

5r -A.

^ 1

Ar^tiS

S/VIALL DIMINS ItOOM

COFFEE rrooi>A

i o

SCALE OF FE.EX

CHRONICLE OF WHITE'S,

1693. White's Chocolate House opened by Francis

White, at a house on the site of Boodle's
Club.

1697. Francis White removed the Chocolate

House to the site of the present Arthur's
Club. Probable date of the foundation
of the " Old Club."

171 1. Death of Francis White; succession of his

widow, Madam White, as proprietress.

1725-29. John Arthur succeeded Madam White as
proprietor.

1733- Fire at White's Club, and loss of the early-

records. Removal of the Club and
Chocolate House to Gaunt's Coffee
House.

1736. Return of the Club and Chocolate House to

the premises rebuilt on the site of the
present Arthur's Club. Robert Arthur
succeeded John Arthur as proprietor.
Date of the first existing records.

244 The History of White's.

1743. The "Young Club" founded.

1755. Both Clubs removed to the " Great House in

St. James's Street," the present club house.

Robert Mackreth succeded Robert Arthur.
1 761. Death of Robert Arthur.
1763. Nominal transfer of the management by R.

Mackreth to the " Cherubim."
1770. John Martindale succeeded the "Cherubim."
1 78 1. Fusion of the Old and Young Clubs into White's

in its present form.
1783. Election of William Pitt, and beginning of the

political period at White's.
1789. Ball to celebrate the recovery of George III.
1797. Meeting of William Pitt's Committee. First

Standing Committee elected.

181 2. George Raggett succeeded Benjamin Martindale

as proprietor.

1813. The first Candidates' Book opened.

1814. F^te given by White's at Burlington House to

the Allied Sovereigns to celebrate the peace
of Europe. Banquet to the Duke of Wellington
at the Club.

1 819. Death of Sir Robert Mackreth.

1833. Committee appointed to take over the election of
Members from the Club for a period of one
year, in consequence of the excessive black-
balling which had prevailed for some years.

The History of White s. 245

1844. Death of George Raggett ; Henry Raggett

succeeded him as proprietor.
1859. Death of Henry Raggett ; Henry Percival

succeeded him as proprietor.
1866. Rejection of the proposal to allow smoking in

the Drawing Room.
1 87 1. The Club building bought at auction by Mr.

Eaton, M.P,, afterwards ist Lord Cheyles-

more,
1882. Death of Henry Percival; Henry Percival, Jun.,

succeeded him as proprietor.
1888. The Hon. Algernon Bourke succeeded Henry

Percival, Jun., as proprietor. Elections taken

out of the hands of the Club at large and

placed in those of a committee.
1892. Death of Henry Percival, Jun.

ADDENDA.

In Horace Walpole's marginal notes written in
Dr. Maty's Works of Lord Chesterfield, and privately
printed in July, 1892, by the Philobiblon Society from
the original notes in the possession of R. S. Turner, Esq.,
there is an interesting account of the reason which
induced Lord Chesterfield to withdraw from White's.
The note says : " Lord Chesterfield used to frequent the
Club at White's in St. James's Street, and when he left
off play used to utter some witticism which he had pre-
pared in the morning, as he passed through the supper
room. George Selwyn, who had more wit than the Earl,
perceived this, and gave him the name of Joe Miller,
which came to the Earl's ears, and was one cause of his
leaving off the Club."

Lord Chesterfield never sent in any formal resigna-
tion, but gradually discontinued using the Club. His
name was still on the list of members in 1770, when
in reply to a circular letter of the proprietor, John Martin-
dale, he ordered it to be struck off, with the remark
that he concluded this had been done fourteen or fifteen
years before. See p. 137.

Addenda. 247

The following letter from Thackeray to " Jacob
Omnium" (Mr. Higgins), now in the possession of
Mr. H. V. Higgins, gives an interesting account of
D'Orsay after he had returned to Paris (see p. 226).
The whole letter is so characteristic of the writer that
we give it in full : —

Hotel Bristol,

Place Vendome.

Jan. 12. 14. (1851).
My dear Vieux,

It breaks my heart to think that I have left at
home 3 sides of a letter beautifully and closely written and in-
tended for your worship. What a number of clever things there
are in those 3 pages (confound them, for you see I must write 3
more) what a neat artless style it is, what a pleasant bitter re-
freshing smack good (for used palates) to drink, and good for after
digestion ! But I came away in a hurry, and left the letter where
it was compoged by my bedside. I arrived here the night afore
last, and finding Edward Ellice in the hotel went and brekfasted
affably with him, and lanced myself in the grand monde instanta-
ceously. Last night M. Duchatel — a sworry — a splendid salon in the
Fbg. St. Germain, all the people Louis Philippists and we were all
of course in mourning for the poor dear Queen of the Belgians.
It was the first French soiree I have ever seen, and shall I tell you
what I thought of the folks? I thought they were not so genteal
as people I know — the house was too handsome, the people did not
seem at home somehow : perhaps I wasn't The lady of the house
and other 2 ladies sate on a sophy by the fire, the gentlemen went
up and made their boughs & then walked away and talked standing

248 Addenda.

with one another about politics — president — chambers — the poor
dear king & so forth. After that was a grand time at Lady
Sandwich's, splendid apartments and O such lovely women ! All
the notabilities of Paris, Thiers Mold and Dukes & Princes
without number. The thing that struck me most (having an i for
such things) was the crowd of lackeys in the hall sitting on benches
with their masters' & missises wraps & cloaks. "Les gens de
Lady Molesworth " ! the man hollowed out at the head of the stair,
& it was grand to see my lady step down, and Maclane, the
butler who hands the champagne you know, come up the grand
staircase with her ladyship's pink satin capote a whatd'youcallum.
Plenty of the London world was there, and it was refreshing, my
good feller, to see what a plenty of old fogies there was.

Here I was introduced to a nobleman with a star on his
bussum, your friend Lord Frederick Gordon & we both talked
about you and abused you, and seeing another nobleman with
another star (Lord Steyne) I asked Lord Harry Vane to introduce
me to him, wh : he did, but with a manifest scowl of unwillingness,
thinking no doubt that I was a pushing man eager to know the
aristocracy. Now the fact is Lord Hertford has praised my writing
very much, and I like to know people who think well of me. You
sardonic wretch — I know you've read the article in the Times
assaulting me. I think it was unfair play : besides being pompous
stupid and ungentlemanlike, and I have made a preface to the
second edition of the Kickleburys (a real bona fide second edition
paid for, every copy of edition ist sold) iii wh: I flatter myself I
have shewn that critic that it is dangerous to meddle with yours to
command. There's still feud between me & Forster: who passes
me over in dignified silence. Ah me, what it is to be a man
without an enemy ! I saw Ainsworth at Brighton, who told me
stories of what I had done — the most ludicrous tales. Enough of
my griefs.

Addenda. 249

On Sunday I went to the play, the better the day, the better
the deed, and before to the 3 Fr^res to dine. There were 4 tables
of English I knew, Molesworth and Lady at one with a friend, and
the best of dinners and champagne in abundance. These people
take their money's worth, and eat and drink the best and the most
every day. Appy folks ! There was something at the play wh. will
do for an article in Punch perhaps— a moral article you understand.
Ashburton has most kindly given Dicky Doyle an order for drawings
for ;^ioo. I'm very much afraid from the favourable state of the
balance at the bankers that you never used my ^^o cheque :
Confound you if you didn't : for th' heart breaking afterwards. The
Brookfields have got laooo;^ by poor Harry Hallam's death. Mr.
Hallam gave it them, and had not Harry destroyed a will wh: he
made, my dear lady would have had all. I went down & saw
the poor fellow laid in his vault, when I was ill he (and some
others) were very kind indeed to me — not Sir that I wish to act
as mourner over your great coffin.

I went to see poor Dossy yesterday. He has got an atelier not
far from his sister's house : and he has filled it gaily with pictures,
looking glasses, trophies and a thousand gimcracks. His bed is in
the corner surmounted by a medallion of Lady Blessington : a view
of her tomb: the star and sword of the Emperor Napoleon and a
crucifix, and here he sleeps as soundly as a child and looks with a
happy admiration at the most awful pictures wh. hang up of his
own painting, and at his statues and busts in wh : he possibly has
some assistance. He has done one of Lamartine who has com-
poged a copy of verses to his own bust of wh. he says that the
passerby regarding it — it is to be on his own tomb — will ask, who
is this cove? is he a statesman? is he a warrior? is he a prophet?
is he a priest? is he a tribune of the people? is he an Adonis?
meaning that he is every one of these things. — And these mad
verses written by a madman D'Orsay says are the finest verses that

I I

!50 Addenda.

ever were written in the world. Marguerite has translated them
in the finest translation that ever was made, and the bust is the
grandest that ever wasn't made by an amateur. Are we mad too
I wonder? Well I don't think I have any more to say herefrom.
Heres the 3 pages, and I send my best regards to Mrs. Higgins :
and I am always my dear Vieux, yours

W. M. T.

Monsieur M. J. Higgins,

a JNice.

INDEX.

Abergavenny, Marquess of,
ACourt, Mr., curious note respecting,

59
Addison, Joseph, mention of White s

by,
" Advice to Julia,'' mention of White's

in, 193

Albemarle, Third Earl of, 112

Allen, Lord, 196, 197

Allied Sovereigns, The, present at
White's Fete, 186

Almack's Assembly Rooms, 127

Almack's (Club), its origin. Parent
of Brookes's, 127. Founded by
members of White's for high play,
127. Its effect on White's, 128.
Rivalry with the Young Club, 128,
129. Gaming at, 129

Alvaiiley, Lord, 176, 193, 196. His
services abroad, 194. His dinners,
194, 195

Anglesey, Marquess of, 182

Anson, Lord, 64. Quarrel with Lord
Lincoln, 107

Arms of White's, origin and blazon,
7S

Arthur, Mary, 117

Arthur, Robert, 20. Succeeds his
father at While's, 20. Popularity,
58. Manager of the Ridotto, 58.
Dismissed from Post in the House-
hold, 58. Prosperity of, 116. Buys
club premises, 116. Death and
Will of, 117

Arthur, John, 15. Succeeds Widow

White as proprietor, 1 5. Increases

premises, 15
"Arthur's " another name for White's,

121. Erroneous deductions from

this use of the name, 121
Arthur's Club, 125, 206

Baird, Sir David, 182

Ball given by White's to celebrate

the King's recovery, 159
Ball given by White's to celebrate

Peace after the Peninsular War,

183. List of Stewards. Accounts

of Expenditure, 186
Ball given by Brookes's to celebrate

the King's recovery, 160
Ballotting, alteration in the method

of, 169
Baltimore, Lord, 53
Barry, Sir Ed., on wines, 168
Beaufort, Second Duke of,
Beaufort, Duke of, 198
Bedford, Fourth Duke of, 48, 109
Bentinck, Lord George, 208
Berkeley, Honourable G., 51
Berkshire House, 18
Betting Book, The, 103
Bignell's Racing Club, 18
Blackballing at White's, an early

instance, 91. Under the Dandies,

205, 209. Particular instances of,

207, 208. Humours of. 207 208.

Reaction against, 209, 210

K K

252

Index.

Bland, Sir John, 105. Party to
extraordinary wager, 105. His
death, 107

Blessington, Lady, 225

BlUcher, Marshal, 183

Boodle's Club, 125, 206

Boscawen, Admiral, 112

Bourke, Honourable Algernon, 240
His management, 241, 242. Its
effect on the club, 242

Bow Window at White's, The, 188.
Brummell and, 1 9 1 . A fashionable
lounge, 192. Questions of etiquette
connected with, 192. Described
by Luttrell, 193

Brackley, Viscount, blackballed, 208

Bradford, Lord, 156

Bramston's " Man of Taste," allusion
to White's in, 126

Brettingham, Matthew, 66

Bristol, Second Earl of, insulted by
Lord Cobham, 88

Brookes's Club, 125, 152. Gaming at
denounced in Parliament, 150.
Political character of, 152, 153.
Humours at, during the King's
illness, 159. Ball to celebrate his
recovery, 160. The faro table at,
170

Broxholme, Dr., 51

Brummell, " Beau," his birth and
parentage, 171, 173. Introduced
to the Prince, 171. Gets a com-
mission, 171. Member of White's,
171. At Eton, 171. Unpopular
at Oxford, 172. Prime favourite
with the Prince, 172. Sells out of
army, 173. As 'arbiter elegan-
tiarum,' 173 Studies dress as a
fine art, 174. His friends, 174.
Quarrels with the Prince, 175.
Sayings attributed to, 175. His
behaviour to the Prince at the
private ball, 176. His impudence,
176, 177. At White's, 178, 190.
Good sayings, 178. Early luck at
play, 170. Ruined by play, 179.

Waning influence, 179. Super-
stitious about the loss of his lucky
sixpence, 180. His flight, 180.
Sale of his furniture, iSo. Snuflf
boxforthe Prince, 180. Death, 181

Buckinghamshire, Lady, fined for
gaming, 136

Burgoyne, Genl., 113

Burlington, Earl of, 66

Buonaparte, Napoleon, betting about,
at White's, 181, 187

Bute, Marquess of, 113

Button's Coffee House, 5

Candidates' Books, The, 204

Carlisle, Fifth Earl of, Letters to

Selwyn, 76, 129, 131. Gaming at

Brookes's, 130. His character, 130.

And Charles Fox, 131. His losses,

132. Embarrassment and despair,

133. Gives up gaming, 134.
Treasurerof Household, 134. Com-
missioner to America, 134.
Challenged by Lafayette, 134.
Death, 134

Caroline, Queen, 39

Caroline, Queen, 203

Castlereagh, Lord, backballed at

White's, 207
Cathcart, Ninth Baron, 70
Cavendishes, at White's, The, 124
Chatham, Lord, 109, no, iii
Cherubim, The, n8, 135
Chess at White's, 92
Chesterfield, Fourth Earl, 46, 80, 246
Chesterfield, Fifth Earl, 159
Cheylesmore, Lord, purchases the

club building, 238. Unsuccessful

negotiation with, 239
Child's Coffee House, 6
Cholmondeley, Earl of, 52
Cholmondeley, Marquess of, 1 58
Churchill, Genl., 53.
Gibber, Colley, 24, 25, 54, 87, 105, 108

Index.

Cleveland, Duchess of, 8i

Cleveland House, 18

Clinton, Sir H.. 113

Clive, Lord, 112, at White's, 113

Clubs, antiquity of, 2. In London in

1814, 206
Club Life in England, its origin, i.

Development of, 125
Club building. The, 116. Former

occupants, 116, W]. Proposal by

club to purchase, 238. Bought at

auction by Lord Cheylesmore, 238.

Alterations in by Mr. Bourke, 241,

242
Cobham, Lord, insults Lord Bristol,

88. Apologises at White's, 89
Cocoa Tree, The, 5, 125, 150, 206
Coffee, introduction into England, i
Coffee Houses, the first in London, 2.

Their rise, 3. Political character,

3. Royal Proclamation against, 3.

Failure of attempt to suppress, 4.

Public character of, 4. Famous

houses, 5- Meeting of different

classes at, 7. Transformation into

clubs, 8
Coke, Lord. His matrimonial affairs,

83. Advice to at White's, 83, and

Speaker Onslow, 90
Combe, Alderman,and Brummell, 1 77.
Committees, notable, 138, 139. Pitts,

of 1797, 167, against blackballing,

of 1833, 210
"Connoisseur,The,"bettingat White's

described in, 100, loi, 102, 103
Conway, Marshall, 70
Cooke, " Kangaroo," 20Q
Copley, Sir Joseph, 200
Comwallis, Marquess, 113, 163.
Court, quarrels at, in 1736, 36.

White's concerned with both sides,

36, 37. Geo. in. and Prince of

Wales, 153. Similarity of two

periods of, 153.
Coventry, Lord, at White's, 123
Craven, Berkeley, 200. Blackballed,

207

Crockford, Benjamin, early career,
222. Suspected of foul play, 223.
Forms his club, 223. His enor-
mous profits, 225

Crockford's, 222, 223. Prominent
habitues of, 225

D.\MER, Dawson, 200

Dandies, The, 193. Their influence
at White's, 200. Described by
Gronow, 200

Darlington, Earl of, 53

Daubigne's Club, 162, 206

Davie's " Life of Garrick,'' mention
of White's in, 25

Delany, Mrs., mentions White's, 27

De Ros, Hy., 200

Devonshire, Duke of, and George
III., 123

Digby, Lord, his marriage, 122

Dinners at White's, 85, 195

Dress in England, 174

Dodington, Bubb, 44-6

D'Orsay, Comte, a retort of, 197. His
career, 225. At Paris, Addenda,
249

Drummond, George H., losses to
Brummell, 179. Cause of his with-
drawal from the Bank, 179

Dufferin, Lord, blackballed, 207

Duncannon, Lord, blackballed, 207

Dundas, Hy. and Rumbold, 145-6

Dunningletter, a typical, 129

Earthquake, The, 84. Effect of,

at White's, 84
Edgecumbe, " Dick," 77
Eldon, Lord, Counsel for Fox Lane

V. Mackreth, 141. Challenged, 142.

Prosecutes Mackreth, 142

254

Index.

Faro forbidden at White's, 170

Farquhar, George, mentions Wlnte's,
22

Fauquier, Francis, 65

Fawkener, Sir Evd., 64

Fazackerley, Nicholas, 52

Fire at White's, 16. The King and
Prince present at, 16, 17

Fitzherbert, Mrs., 155, 156, 157

Fitzpatrick, Genl., at Brookes's, 170

Flahault, Count, 212.

"Foundling Hospital for Wit,'' men-
tion of White's in, 126.

Fox, Henry, no.

Fox, Charles James, 75, 149, 158.
Friendship with Prince of Wales,
154. Its rupture, 155. Advice to
Prince, 156. Denies the Prince's
marriage in Parliament, 157. Un-
deceived by Lord Bradford, 157.

Frederick, Prince of Wales, quarrels
with the King, 36, 37

" Gamester, The Polite," descrip-
tion of White's in, 97-99

Gamesters' address to the King, 96.
His reply, 97

Gaming, Palmy days of, at White's,
94. At Court, 94. General with
all classes, 94. Decline of at
White's, 125-126. Parliamentary
notice of, at clubs, 148. Revival
at White's after Waterloo, 1 79

Garraway's Coffee House, 6.

Gaunt's Coffee House, site of, 17.
Removal of White's to, 18. House
still standing, 18

Gay, John, mentions W^hite's, 22

Gazette, a mock, 92

George II., quarrels with Prince of
Wales, 36. His bad humour, 39.
Other weaknesses, 40

George III., quarrels at Court of, 153.
His illness and recovery, 158-159

George IV. as Prince of Wales, and
Lord Kenyon, 137. Enters public
life, 153. Effect on White's and
Brookes's, 153. Early doings, 154.
And Mrs. Robinson, 154. Friend-
ship with Fox, 154. His letters,
155. Rupture of the friendship,
155. And Mrs. Fitzherbert, 155.
His attempt at suicide, 155. His
despair, 155. Mairiage with Mrs.
Fitzherbert, 156. Denies it, 156.
Admits it, 157. Behaviour during
the King's illness, 158. .Sends
tickets for White's fete to be sold,
159. Correspondence with Lord
Cornwallis, 163. Member of
White's, 164. And Brummell, 171,

173, 175. 176-
Gibbon, Edward, 67
Giles's Coffee House, 6
Grafton, Duke of, 65
Graham's Club, 206
Granby, Marquess of, 63
" Great House in St. James's Street,"

The, 116
Grecian Coffee House, The, 6
Grenville, George, 109
Grenville, Rd., 109
Greville, Charles, 202. And Lord

George Bentinck, 208
Gunnings, The Miss, 86
Guards' Club, The, 206
Gurwood, Colonel, 182

Hanmer, Sir Thomas, and Thomas

Hervey, 49
Harrington, Lord, 53
Heidegger, J. J., 14. Organises

Masquerades from White's, 28.

His success, 32. Elected atWhite's,

54. Practical joke upon, 56. Death.

58.
Hervey, Lord, " Memoirs," 38. As

a courtier, 48

Index

255

Higgins, H. V., Addenda, 247

Hill, Lord, 182

Hogarth and White's, 18, 19

Holland, Lord, 75

Howe, Sir William, 113

Hughes, Ball, 198. Love affairs, 199

L&J.

Irish Peers and White's, 122

Jekyll, Joseph, 147

Johnson, Dr., and "Tom" Harvey,

124
Jonathan's Coffee House, 6

Keppel, Admiral, 112
Keppel, General, 112

Lafayette, General, 134

Lennox, Colonel, see Richmond

Ligonier, Earl, 63

Lincoln, Lord, 107

Londonderry, Marquess of, and

Wellington, 182
Lothian, Marquess of, 158, 164
Lovat, Lord, 65
Luttrell, Lady E., fined for gaming,

136
Luttrell's " Advice to Julia," mention

of White's in, 193
Lyttelton, Colonel, his mock address

to the King, 96
Lyttelton, Lord, his dread of gaming

at White's, 95

Macall, founder of Almack's,
126

Macaronis, The, 126
McLean, the Highwayman, 85
Mackreth, Robert, waiter under
Arthur, 117. Marries Mary Arthur,
117. Proprietor of club, 118. Gives

over club to the Cherubim, 118.
Letter to members, 118. Broker
in the City, 1 19. M.P. for Castle
Rising, 119. Lord Russell's ac-
countofhis eIection,ii9. Walpole's
explanation of the transaction, 120.
Suit with Mr. Fox- Lane, 140.
Challenges Sir John Scott, 141.
Imprisoned, 142. Knighted, 142.
Death and will, 143. Epigram
upon, 147

Malmesbury, Lord, 158

Managers, appointment of, 168. First
Standing Committee, 170

March, Earl of, see Queensberry

Marlborough, Third Duke of, 47, 48

Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of,
48,81

Marlborough Club, The, 237

Martin, Mr., his motion in Parlia-
ment against gaming, 149

Martindale, Benjamin, 190

Martindale, Henry, 136. And Miss
C.Vernon, 136. Fined for keeping
a gaming table, 136. His applica-
tion for a licei ce, 137

Martindale, John, 135. Early man-
agement, 137. His dissatisfaction,
137. Its cause, 139, 140

Masquerades, originated by Heideg-
ger from White's, 28. Popular
opposition to, 28. Alluded to by
Pope, Lady Mary Montague,
Defoe, &c., 29, 30. Heidegger's
advertisements of, 30. Satirised
by the " Guardian," 30, by Hogarth,
31. Their success under Heideg-
ger, 32-

Maynwaring, Arthur, at White's, 24

Methuen, Sir P., 52

Moira, Lord, 162. Report on the
Duel, 163

Montagu, Edward, 90

Montfort, Lord, 85. A typical
gamester, 104. Party to an
extraordinary wager, 105. His
death, 106

256

Index.

Nando's Coffee House, 6

Nash, " Beau," 105

Newcastle, Duchess of, 117

Newcastle, Duke of, 50, 109

" News and Sunday Herald," The,
Account of White's in, 213. In-
accuracies in, 214, 222

North, Lord, his Government
mostly members of White's, 151

Northumberland, Countess of, 116

" Old Club at White's," The Rules
of, 33. Original records lost in the
fire, 34. Probable date of foun-
dation, 35. First existing List of
Members, 39, 59. Slow increase
of, 60. Distinguished Members
of, 61. Difficuhy of entry, 69.
Changes in Rules, 114. Increase
of membership and subscription,
138. Fusion with Young Club, 140

Old Man's Coffee House, 6

"01dQ,"74

Old Slaughter's Coffee House, 6

" Omnium Jacob," Addenda, 247

Onslow, Speaker, 90

Onslow, Tommy, 198

Orford, Third Earl of, and Mack-

reth, 120
Ozinda's Coffee House, 5

Pasqua's Head Coffee House,

The, 2
Peace after the Peninsular War

celebrated at White's, 183
Pelham, Henry, 50
Percival, Henry, 232. Death, 240
Percival, Henry, junr., 240
Pigot, Lord, 113
Pitt, William, see Chatham

Pitt, William : Rivalry with Fox,
iji. Maiden Speech, 151.
Elected at Brookes's, 151. At
White's, 151. Mobbed in St.
James's Street, 151. Prime
Minister, 152. Attitude in the
Prince's Affairs, 157. Success
over the Prince's faction, 163.

Pope, mention of White's by, 24,
25, 26.

Prince of Wales, The, Honorary
Member of White's, 234. In-
terested in question of smoking
at the Club, 236. His influence
in society, 236. Founds the
Marlborough, 237. Its effect on
White's, 237.

Pulteney, William, 41. Rivalry with
Walpole, 42-44

Q-

QUEENSBERRY, DUKE OF, 75, I29.
Blackballed at Old White's, 75.
Leaves Pitt's Party, 158

Raggett, George, 190. Other
Clubs of his, igo, 191. His astute-
ness, 190. Death, 227.

Raggett, Henry, 227. Incident of
his management, 229. Death, 231

"Raggett's " at Brighton, 191

Richmond, Duke of, 161. Duel with
Duke of York, 161

Rigby, Richard, 75, 81, 84, no, 129.
Transactions with Rumbold,
145-6.

Rodney, Admiral, and White's, 1 1 1

RoUe, Mr., 157

Rolliad, The, allusion to White's
in, 152

Roxborough Club, Whist at, 190

Rules of the Old Club, 33. Curious
additions to, 115, 139

Rules of White's, alterations in,
167, 168, 189, 204, 210, 211

Index.

257

Rumbold, Thomas, blackshoe boy
at White's, 143. Clerk at Calcutta,
144. Volunteers for military
service, 144. Member of Council
of Bengal, 144. Aide-de-camp
to Clive, 144. Governor of Patna,
144, of Madras, 144. Created
Baronet, 144. Returns from India
with vast fortune, 144. Im-
peached, 145. Bill of Pains and
Penalties, 145. Transactions with
Rigby, 145. Withdrawal of Bill
by Dundas, 146. Epigram upon,
147.

Rumbold, William Robert, 145.

Sackville, Lord George, 71

St. George, The Chevalier, 164.
Fences with the Prince of Wales,
165. Entertained at White's,
165. His memorandum in the
Club books, 165

St. James's Coffee House, j- Its
site, 17

St. Leger and the Judge, 86

St. Leger, Col., and the Duke of
Richmond, 162

Sandwich, Lord, 1 10

Saunders, Admiral, 112

Saunders, David, i

Scarborough, Earl of, 52

Scott, Sir Jno., see Eldon

Sefton, Earl of, 197. His great
losses at Crockford's, 198

Selwyn, George Augustus, 71. A
leader of fashion, 71. Reputation
for wit, 72. Contradictions in
his character, 73. His attach-
ment to the child " Mie Mie," 73.
Leaves her his fortune, 74. His
letters, 74-77. Gaming experi-
ences, 129-130.

Shafto, I., 129

Sharpers, advertisement against, 95

Sheridan, R. B., defends Fox in
Parliament, 149

Smoking in England, 232. Increas-
ing popularity of, 232. At White's,
233. Opposition to, by the older
Members, 234. And the Prince of
Wales, 234. Meeting to decide
the question, 235. Effect of the
decision on White's, 236

Spencer, Lady Diana, and Frederick,
Prince of Wales, 48.

Spencer, Lord Robert, his winnings
at Faro, 1 70

Stair, Second Earl of, 61, 62

Stanhope, Sir William, 47

Steele, Richd., mentions White's, 23

Sturt, Mrs., fined for gaming, 136

Swift, Jonathan, mentions White's. 27

Taafe, Mr., 90

Talbot, Sir Geo., his numerous

wagers, 188
Talleyrand, elected at White's, 212.

Good sayings, 212
" Tatler, The,'' mention of White's

in, 23
Thackeray, an original letter of,

Addenda, 247. Visits D'Orsay

in Paris, Addenda, 249
Townshend, Miss Mary, 124, 128
Turf Club, The, 237

U.
Uxbridge, Earl of, see Anglesey

Vernon, Miss Caroline, 136
Vernon, Richard, blackballed, 91.
Elected, 124

Wagers, Curious, 80, 81, 85, 87,
103, 104, 201, 202, 203

258

Index.

Wallis, Mr. Thomas, i8

Walpole, Horace, 77. Frequent
mention of White's in his letters,
79. White's useful to him, 80.
His mock gazette, 92

Walpole, Lord, of Wolterton, 53

Walpole. Sir Robert, member of the
Old Club, 38. His influence at
Court, 39. Rivalry with Pulteney,
42-44

Warrender, Sir G., 200

Wattier's Club, 206

Webster, Sir Whistler, 1 16

Webster, Sir Thomas, 117

Webster, Sir Godfrey, his great losses
at Crockford's, 223

Wellington, Duke of, elected at
White's, 182. Banquet to, at
White's, 187

Westminster, parishes of, 11

White, Elizabeth, 14. Fashionable
character of her house, 14. Her
prosperity, 15

White, Francis, 11. Opens Choco-
late House in St. James's Street,

11. Removes across the street,

12. Increases his premises, 13.
Death and Will, 13

White's Chocolate House, its fashion-
able character, 8. Transformed
into White's Club, 8. Site of the
original, 9. Wrong sites assigned
by topographers, 10. Date of
opening, II. Fire at, 16. Removed
to Gaunt's, 17. Contemporary
allusions to, 21. Last mention of,

139-
White's, original site of, 9. Removal
to Gaunt's, 17. Typical evening
at, 82. Country house at Rich-
mond, 83. The Club and the
highwayman, 85. A dinner at,
85. An apology at, 89. Difficulty
of entry, 92. Notorious for gam-
ing, 108. Great members of, 109.

Removal to the "Great House,"
116. Spoken of as "Arthur's,"
121. Erroneous deductions in
consequence, 121. Takes its
present form, 140. Prominent
members in 1 781, 148. Still
neutral in politics, 150. Change
in that respect, and its cause, 151.
Ball to celebrate the King's re-
covery, 1 59. End of the political
period, 164. Increase of member-
ship, 167, 170, 204. 239, 242.
Under the Dandies, 200. Ultra
exclusiveness, 206. Its possible
cause, 206. Reaction against, 209-
211. The smoking question at,
232-237.

Williams, G. J., or « Gilly," 77, 92.
His gossip, 122, 128.

Willis's Rooms, 127.

Will's Coffee House, 5.

Winchilsea, Lord, 162. Reports on
duel, 163.

Windham, Sir William, 117.

Wines drunk last century, 168, 169,
170

Winnington, Thomas, 53

Worcester, Marquis of, see Beaufort

Wombwell, Sir George, blackballed
at White's, 207

"VoNGE, Sir William, 53

York, Duke of, 154, 159. Duel with
Col. Lennox, 161

" Young Club at 'White's," The, its
origin, 67. Distinct from the old
Club, 68-9. Prominent early
members, 70-78. Changes in
rules, 115. Increase of member-
ship and subscription, 138. Fusion
with the Old Club, 140.

Young Man's Coffee House, 6

(/r»^|

•XJ ill

bfl W

o
m

UNIVERSIIYOFTORON
LIBRARY

,l^ot wanted ui RBSC

DO NOT

REMOVE

THE

CARD

FROM

THIS

POCKET

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Texts

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "The history of Whités [with the Betting Book from 1743 to 1878 and a list of members from 1736 to 1892]"

See other formats